a tractor trailer traveling quickly down the road. We pan back and see that it says “Rocky Mountain Office Supply. Colorado's Office Supply Superstore.” We get various views of the truck then cut to the interior. A man is driving the truck and singing along to the song playing.
Driver: High and low I've traveled, far and wide I go. From the desert tracks to the mountainside I'll bring you this traveling show.
He stops singing to pick up his cup and take a drink. He puts his cup down when a male voice comes over his CB.
CB Man: Big boy, this is little boy. How'd things go down at the chicken coop?
He picks up his receiver and talks into it.
Driver: Weight-station inspector needs to learn some adult words and a bit of hygiene, but he waved us through. The cargo is secure. Looks like a clean shot from here.
CB Man: Roger that. Little girl will take point on your front door. See you at the drop station, Mack. I'm clear.
We see the view from one of the side mirrors to see a black SUV. We pan back a bit to see two black SUVs driving alongside the truck. He looks down at the woman driving the first SUV and gives her a nod, she gives him a wave with a few of her fingers. She quickly pulls in front of the truck while the second SUV stays behind.
Suddenly the front SUV is lifted from the ground, almost like there was an explosion under it. However, we see no fire or any other indication of what caused the SUV to go airborne. It flies quite a distance into the sky then lands in front of the truck on it's roof. The truck quickly swerves to avoid the SUV.
Driver: Son of a b**h!
He ends up taking the truck into the median between the opposite lanes of traffic but then gets it back on the road. He picks up his CB.
Driver: You see that?
CB Man: Little girl is down. Escort 2 is down!
Driver: I know, Sherlock. What the hell hit us?
He reaches up to the ceiling and hits a bu*ton. Suddenly his windshield has become a sort of touch screen computer. He hits a few bu*tons still keeping the truck on the road. We see a bright red line appear on the window in front of him. He waves it away then clicks the bu*ton on the ceiling turning off the computer. He picks up his CB.
Driver: We need to go to alt two, alt two.
CB Man: Nothing over our shoulder.
The SUV that was in the back is now moving to go in front of the truck.
CB Man: Back door's clear. Protect the cargo at all costs.
The driver starts talking but no longer into the CB, just into the cab in general.
Driver: S.H.I.E.L.D. region CT, this is Agent Mack. We are under attack from an unseen I-don't-know-what.
He's looking up and all around trying to find out what's going on. As he does so the SUV that is now in the front goes airborne just as the first one did. Except this time it's shoved off the road, it doesn't land in front of him. He gets a female response to his earlier statement.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Voice: Agent Mack advise as to the nature of threat, over.
Mack: What in the Holy name of –
He is looking up in the sky but his words are cut off when the truck goes airborne as well. The truck goes into the air at a 90 degree angle from the ground.
Mack: S.H.I.E.L.D. Region CT…oh, hell, I can't explain.
The truck is suddenly dropped, almost like it had been held up by a string that has now been cut. We can hear Mack yelling as it falls.
Mack: Oh, no!
Black Screen.
Next we see the truck on its side, flames in the engine area. We can hear the S.H.I.E.L.D. voice still over intercom.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Voice: Mack, come in! Are you there, Agent Mack?
We pan to the cab of the truck, Mack is either knocked out or dead. While the cab of the truck has landed on its side the bed of the truck remains upright. We pan around the truck to see a construction backhoe slowly making its way over to the truck. Men in camo run behind the backhoe. They use the arm of the backhoe to break apart the bed of the truck. The men in camo are there once opened and are throwing out the empty paper boxes that were obviously a cover for whatever is in there. Once a path is clear we can see a door with a keypad and the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo. One of the men in camo takes a blowtorch to the door working. Once they have made an opening they kick away the metal. Inside the room is a man strapped into some sort of chair. He puts his gla**es on as they open his room.
Room Man: Are we there yet?
Title Screen.
Next we see The Bus flying through the air, looking all spiffy and fixed. We cut inside the cargo hold. Ward is in there hitting a punching bag. He is about to punch it when he sees someone and halts his hit.
Ward: You know, you're late.
The camera pans over to show Skye walking down the spiral staircase. She's dressed in a tank top and has her hands taped like Ward's.
Skye: I'm tired from the mornings workout. I thought I was joining S.H.I.E.L.D., not 24 hour fitness.
She steps up to the punch bag and Ward stands next to her.
Ward: It's called relative strength training, starting with the basics.
He takes her hand and messes with the tape.
Ward: And next time you do 15 push-ups for every minute you're late.
He drops that wrist and picks up the other one.
Skye: Fine, Mr. Fun Machine. Better than pull-ups. I don't ever want to do another pull-up again.
Ward: You find yourself hanging off the edge of a building 20 stories up, you're gonna want to do at least one.
He stops messing with her tape and takes a fighting position facing the bag.
Ward: Stand here.
He pulls his hands up high, near his face.
Ward: Jab, cross, like this.
He shows her how he wants her to hit then backs up.
Ward: 10 minutes.
Skye hits the bag, but with nowhere near the force Ward was using.
Ward: You know the hardest part about boxing?
Skye: Getting punched in the face?
Ward: Keeping your hands up.
He once again pulls both of his hand up by his face showing her, she drops her arms in frustration.
Skye: Why do I even have to do this? I'm sure Fitz-Simmons' supervising officer didn't make them do this muscle stuff.
She weakly hits the bag a few times while speaking, Ward just stares at her.
Ward: You said you wanted to be a field agent, like Coulson. Well, if you'd like to switch disciplines…
He looks over into the lab. Both Fitz and Simmons are wearing lab coats. Fitz has an aerosol can in his hands spraying it showing a laser line as Simmons looks at Ward.
Ward: What did your S.O. give you guys for morning drills?
Simmons gets excited.
Simmons: Oh, atomistic attribute drills.
While she continues to speak Ward nods his head and looks at Skye, she in response weakly hits the bag again.
Simmons: Yeah, we'd name the mechanical, chemical, thermal –
Fitz: Electrical properties of materials.
Skye: Okay, okay, they made your point.
She continues to hit the bag, Ward walks to stand on the opposite side of the bag and hold it.
Ward: There will come a moment when you have to commit to this or bail. Every field agent has a defining moment. Ask Coulson. When you have to make the hard call to either dedicate yourself to this or to curl up in a ball and run.
Skye stops hitting, if that's what you call it, and looks at Ward.
Skye: How can you run if you're curled up in a ball?
She starts hitting again.
Ward: It's my job as your S.O.to make sure you don't die before then.
While he talks he lifts her hands higher up by her face.
Ward: Come on.
She starts to hit the bag again. (And funnily, in the background, Fitz seems to be pointing the laser at Simmons, we can see it on her face and she's holding up her hands trying to block it. )
Skye: So what's yours, Agent Ward?
Ward: 10 minutes.
Skye: Your defining moment?
He stays silent so she stops hitting.
Skye: Come on, tell me. I want to know.
She starts to hit again.
Skye: I can get Coulson to give you some of that truth serum. You could spill your little heart out to me again.
She's teasing, but he seems to be taking it all seriously.
Ward: You mean my level one overshare that miraculously got you to cooperate?
She looks away unsure then back to him.
Ward: I hate to tell you this, rookie, but we don't have a truth serum.
Skye's mouth drops open in shock.
Skye: Wha-
There is a ding overhead and May's voice comes over the speakers.
May: Changing course, briefing in three.
The camera pans over to Fitz in the lab.
Fitz: Ah, looks like we're on the move.
He takes off his lab coat as Simmons smiles and does the same. Ward goes up the stairs as Skye sulks.
May over Intercom: S.H.I.E.L.D. 616 with new orders.
Cut to May inside the co*kpit.
May: Set for Colorado air field north.
Cut to the living room area of the plane. Fitz and Simmons are sitting on a couch as Ward and Skye enter. Coulson enters from the opposite side of the plane.
Coulson: A few minutes ago a S.H.I.E.L.D. transport was attacked while carrying a priority red protected a**et off Route 76 near Sterling.
Fitz whistles.
Simmons: Priority red?
Coulson: The a**et was Canadian physicist Dr. Franklin Hall.
He walked in carrying a table, he now turns it so all can see a picture of Dr. Hall.
Coulson: Known for his work –
We pan over to see Fitz and Simmons both stricken by this news. Fitz' face shows shock while Simmons has both of her hands to her face worried.
Simmons: Oh, no. Not Frank.
Fitz: Dr. Hall? He was our chemical kinetics advisor our second year.
Simmons: Yeah, he's so enthusiastic about science, we just adored him. We can rescue him, can't we?
Coulson: He's one of ours. We're gonna try.
Ward: And the attackers?
Coulson: Invisible.
He walks off as Skye gives Ward a confused look.
Skye: Wait, invisible?
She laughs amused.
Skye: Cool.
She looks at Ward, he shares none of her humor or excitement, she drops the smile from her face.
Skye: But terrible.
Cut to the whole group, Skye, Ward, Coulson, May, Fitz and Simmons walking on a dark street. The runner at the bottom of the screen says: Sterling, Colorado.
Skye: Dr. Hall was an a**et?
Coulson: One of a few select scientists S.H.I.E.L.D. has been protecting, people our enemies would love to get their hands on. We keep them hidden, keep them on the move.
Simmons: Which is why Fitz and I were so lucky to have him.
Coulson: We don't have him anymore.
Skye: And, what does priority red mean?
Coulson: It means security should have been…
His words trail off when they hear the groaning of metal. They look up and see one of the SUVS inside a tree.
Coulson: Heavy.
Cut to Mack. He is still alive but got banged up in the crash, there's a large bandage on the side of his head.
Mack: It was pretty damn scary, and I don't spook easily, boss.
We pan out to see he is sitting in the back of a van speaking with Coulson and May. Fitz is in the background on his tablet.
May: Nothing in the air from above?
Mack nods.
Mack: Nothing over our shoulder, but what's scary is they knew our route.
We pan over to see that Fitz is shining some sort of grid like laser line onto the road. With this panned back view we can see that they are all next to the tractor trailer.
Mack: They were waiting for us.
Coulson: Are you saying they were working with somebody inside S.H.I.E.L.D.?
He looks down and away for a moment, almost embarra**ed then looks back at Coulson.
Mack: Sorry to say…it had to be.
The sound of Simmons calling out gets their attention.
Simmons: Fitz, what am I seeing here?
We pan over to see Simmons has on some sort of green goggles and is holding some sort of metal instrument in her hand. Fitz walks over to her.
Fitz: Well, I'm not wearing the full-spectrum goggles I designed, so – no clue.
Skye and Ward also walk behind Fitz over to where Simmons is. May leaves Coulson's side and wonders over, after a moment Coulson does as well.
He laughs to Skye, she doesn't laugh so his falters off. They reach Simmons.
Fitz: Let me have a look, come on.
He goes to reach out to her but she stops him.
Simmons: No, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, don't move!
She looks down at his feet when he stops.
Simmons: Wait a second.
She picks some rocks off the road and throws them into the air, they gather together swirling all around each other like a tornado.
Skye: What in the hell?
Simmons: I think the electro-static field scanner activated some…thing.
She smiles. They all duck when the batch of rock and dirt go flying every which way, taking out one of the lights as it does so.
Coulson: Okay, can we deactivate it? Now?
Simmons hits a few keys, it becomes more aggressive.
Fitz: Have to increase the density.
Simmons: I tried, Fitz, but –
Pieces of rock are hitting metal all around causing panging sounds as the others randomly duck.
May: Fitz!
He's clicking away on something that looks like a mix between a cell phone and a walkie-talkie. One of the rocks hits it doing damage.
Fitz: Whoa.
Suddenly it all dies out. Simmons bends down to the ground and picks some sort of small sphere up off the ground using tweezers. She holds it out for Coulson to see.
Simmons: That did all this.
Coulson plucks the sphere off the tweezers and into his fingers.
Everyone is staring at the sphere Coulson has.
Skye: What is that?
We get a close up look at it, it almost looks like two rings that form a sphere, inside those rings, at the center is some sort of gray material that is constantly moving.
Coulson: Something big.
Commercial Break.
Open on Fitz inside the lab on The Bus. He has the device found on the road in some sort of machine, he's looking at it with gla**es that are lit on either side. The machine holding it is some sort of mechanized gripper. He lowers the device down as Coulson and May watch.
Coulson: Either someone cracked our comm system or Dr. Hall's movements leaked from inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
We pan back further to see Simmons standing next to Fitz looking at the device and Skye standing next to her looking nervous.
May: You really think we have a mole?
Skye's ears seem to perk up to this, she turns her head to listen but doesn't look at them.
Coulson: I think you should go through the communication logs, rule it out. We'll work the tractor tread that we found on the scene.
Skye leans back from the table.
Skye: I can do that, instead of pull-ups. I can upload an image of the tread pattern and check to see if there's any sort of –
Her words are cut off by Ward.
Ward: Already done. Matched it to a 2010 model. Found a list of purchasers within a 500 mile radius. Narrowed down to those with priors, financial troubles or propensity for risk-taking.
Ward has pulled what he found on a screen in the lab. He hits a bu*ton on his tablet and points.
Ward: Three suspects.
We see three different mug shot looking pictures up on the screen now.
Coulson: Who may have sold their construction equipment to the kidnappers. We'll ask.
Ward exits the room and Skye turns to Coulson.
Skye: Hey, so, Ward said a funny thing. He said that you guys don't have a truth serum.
Coulson smiles.
Coulson: Did he? Ward said that?
Skye: Yeah.
Coulson: Interesting.
Skye: Yeah.
Coulson says nothing else and walks away.
Skye: Hey, wait –
May: Hey.
She turns her attention to May. May drops a giant binder into Skye's waiting arms.
Skye: Do you want me to bench press this?
May: Read it. Every communication out of HQ since they decided to transfer Dr. Hall.
May walks away leaving a shocked looking Skye.
Skye: Hang in there, doc. It's gonna be awhile.
Cut to outside, the runner on the bottom of the screen says: Barnroof Point, Colorado. We see a man riding a horse down a trail. When he gets to the bottom of the small hill he crested Coulson is waiting there.
Coulson: Excuse me.
The man stops his horse.
Man: Who the hell are you?
We can see Coulson has brought Lola out of the cargo hold. We can also see that the man has a shotgun holster on his saddle.
Coulson: A concerned citizen, who happens to be a member of a giant bureaucratic organization that's tracking your every move.
Man: I haven't done anything wrong.
Coulson: Of course not, but you sold your excavator to some people who did.
Coulson takes off his gla**es.
Coulson: And you're hiding out here until things cool down because you know it.
The man seems to go on guard.
Coulson: I just want to know who paid you.
He takes out the shotgun and points it at Coulson.
Man: Paid me enough not to answer any questions like that.
Suddenly an arm comes into frame gripping his shotgun, the arms give the gun a mighty pull causing the man to fall off his horse. We see those arms belonged to Ward and the man lands on his back holding up his hands in surrender as Ward points the shotgun at him.
Ward: Feels like the Old West.
Man: They gave me money for my equipment, that's all. I never saw a face. I never heard a name.
Coulson: And how did you receive this money? They write you a check?
The man points at his saddlebag. Ward lowers the gun, just a bit, and reaches over to the saddlebag. He sakes the bag and thin bars of gold fall out. Coulson bends down and picks one up.
Coulson: Paid you in gold?
Ward: Now it really feels like the Old West.
Cut to inside the lab. The gold bars are sitting on a table as Simmons runs some sort of lit wand over them scanning them.
Simmons: It looks like this because it's a Dore Bar. It means it was made at the mine rather than in a refinery. It's only about 92% pure. The cowboy got cheated a bit.
Coulson: Can you determine the mine based on the impurities?
Fitz: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
He walks away from the bars of gold to a computer.
Fitz: We've done that already.
He clicks on the computer keys.
Fitz: It's from the Dacey Mine in Tanzania, which is owned by –
Coulson: Quinn Worldwide. I'm sure you studied the CEO in your chemical engineering cla**es, or saw him on the cover of Forbes – Ian Quinn.
Coulson walks out of the lab.
Cut to nighttime over some city. The runner on the bottom says: Republic of Malta. We cut to a fancy house. A man and woman, both in white, are walking along the pathway. He's speaking on his cell phone.
Fancy Man: We can't just pluck it from the ground like a potato. It needs to be extracted from the ore and enriched. I know. You know, tell him this investment paid for that ridiculous yacht of his and that he'll thank me at the shareholders meeting.
He takes the phone away from his ear and hands it to the woman.
Cut to inside a room, we see Dr. Hall sitting there. He perks up when he hears the door open and the Fancy Man walks up to him.
Fancy Man: Why is he tied up?
Hall: Quinn.
Quinn: Does he look like a threat?
A man walks over to Hall and uses a knife to cut his bonds.
Quinn: I'm sorry about these guys.
Quinn grabs a stool and sits down. He gives Hall a big smile then laughs. He reaches forward and claps Hall on his legs.
Quinn: Welcome to Malta, Frank.
Quinn laughs again, Hall doesn't seem amused.
Hall: You know, it's one thing to steal my ideas, Ian, but stealing me?
Quinn: First of all, I never stole our ideas. We always agreed information should be free.
Hall: It's amazing how much money you've made off free information.
Quinn: And secondly, think of this as a rescue mission, Frank. In fact, in a moment, I think you'll be thanking me. My staff intercepted a communication about the movement of a certain a**et, and when I deduced that a**et was you, I couldn't pa** up on the opportunity. It's a little out of my comfort zone, sure.
He holds up a finger to Hall and stands, Hall following suit.
Hall: Malta You're not stupid.
Quinn has walked over to some cabinets and opens them, pulling out a bottle of liquor.
Hall: S.H.I.E.L.D. can't come after you here.
Quinn: Not just S.H.I.E.L.D. I am now a naturalized citizen of this fair country. Stunning beaches, beautiful tax laws and a deep seeded hatred of outside forces telling them what to do.
Hall: Sounds like your dating profile.
He smiles at Quinn who laughs.
Quinn: Right. I moved my entire operation down here. Bought the old Prime Minister's estate. It's not really my style, but they had this huge underground facility, so I figured, hey.
He walks around the table back to Hall with the drinks.
Hall: Always been a stubborn ba*tard. Now you've finally found a place where the watchdogs can't touch you.
He takes the gla** from Quinn holding it up, Quinn brings his gla** up as well chinking them together.
Quinn: Not without breaking international law.
They both take a drink
Quinn: But, more importantly, old friend, they can't touch you.
Quinn pulls something out of his pocket and shows it to Hall, it looks like the same type of device that was found on the road by Simmons. He sets it on a table above a monitor and looks at Hall.
Quinn: Recognize the design?
Hall picks it up and looks at it.
Quinn: We were barely old enough to drink when you sketched the blueprint. That's just a miniature prototype. A theoretical machine powered by a theoretical substance.
Hall looks up at him with surprise.
Quinn: Frank, you were right.
He nearly smiles.
Hall: You found it?
Cut to Fitz standing in front of a monitor which shows some sort of atom behind him.
Fitz: Gravitonium. It's an extremely rare high-atomic numbered element.
Simmons speaks from off screen.
Simmons: It powers the device.
We pull the camera out and see that they are speaking to Skye in their lab.
Simmons: It's so extremely rare that most people didn't believe it existed , much less the theory that an isolated positive charge –
Fitz: Would turn the flow from isotropic –
Skye stops them.
Skye: Guys, High School drop out here. How does the device work again?
Fitz looks over to Simmons for help, she complies. She gets out of her seat and walks to the picture of the atom on the monitor. She seems to go into school teacher mode, speaking slower and pointing at the atom like a spokesmodel would.
Simmons: Well, gravitonium distorts gravity fields within itself, causing an undulating amorphous shape.
Fitz decides to give it a try too.
Fitz: Yeah, which causes these, um, wiggly bits here, but when an electric current is applied the gravitonium solidifies.
He too is using basic hand gestures and speaking slowly. When he says “solidifies” he brings his hands together like a ball.
Fitz: And those gravity fields erupt…
He begins shaking his hands showing the movement of the atom then blows them apart. We see Skye's face, not sure she's getting this simpler version, she still looks confused.
Fitz: Randomly changing the rules of gravity around it.
Fitz moves to another part of the room seeming to get animated.
Fitz: Well, so, now you can imagine what would happen to a big rig at 100 kilometers per hour.
Fitz has walks over to what I believe to be his work station, it seems to be the place the goes to most when in the lab.
Fitz: Or, uh, well, you could just remember, cause we saw it already. Didn't we?
Simmons: Yeah, and guess which genius published every theory about gravitonium and possible applications, years ago.
Skye: Dr. Franklin Hall.
Simmons smiles.
Simmons: Yes.
Fitz: Correct. And Dr. Hall attended the University of Cambridge at the same time as Ian Quinn.
Skye starts shaking her head.
Skye: Coulson may be off on this. Quinn is a notoriously good guy. His charity endowment's something like $8 billion.
Simmons: Yes, with money made from leeching the Earth of its resources. Looks like he's dug up another.
Cut back to Quinn and Hall in the same room, Hall still holds the device.
Quinn: 20 years, 12 mines, 6 continents, but yes, I finally found it. And now?
He laughs.
Quinn: We get to play with it.
He continues laughing as Hall scoffs just a bit.
Hall: Do you remember in all our talks on Orchard Street, the part where it's very, very dangerous?
Quinn: Everything powerful is dangerous. But, I'm not going to convince you with more talk, talk of 50% shares, talk of Nobel Prizes. No, not you. You…
He reaches over to the monitor and slides his finger up pulling something up on the screen.
Quinn: Will just have to see it.
We hear a noise off screen, it sounds like a door opening. Hall looks over as the doors are opened. The camera pans and we see a bigger version of the device in his hand, a much bigger version.
Quinn: I built a full sized generator, but I need you to tell me how to control the gravity fields.
He looks from the big version down to the small version in his hand.
Quinn: You can complete your life's work. I plan to do this, with or without you, but I know you. I know you'd want it done right.
Hall gives a tiny nod of his head and looks back at the big version as Quinn nods behind him and claps him on the shoulder.
Quinn: Now is the moment when you thank me.
Cut to inside the plane, see Skye walking toward where we hear Coulson and Ward talking.
Coulson: The man's a prisoner, and it's up to us to get him out.
Ward: We've checked the specs. There's no way into Quinn's compound without a large S.H.I.E.L.D. strike force or a man inside.
We now see that Coulson and Ward are discussing things in the Planning Room. As Skye enters the room we see that May, Fitz and Simmons are also in there.
Ward: He's got Neodymium laser fencing surrounding the property.
Coulson: They'll never allow a strike force into Malta. Plus, this weekend, Quinn Worldwide's got its annual shareholders gathering. We'd risk global outrage, but –
May: If we go in alone –
Coulson: S.H.I.E.L.D. can disavow us, claim ignorance.
May: Without a man inside it's impossible, unless you're immune to Neodymium laser emissions.
Fitz stands up seeming to have gotten an idea.
Fitz: If we had a monkey, we could get in.
Simmons squeezes her eyes shut in frustration.
Simmons: Ugh, Fitz!
Fitz: If we had a small monkey he could slip through the sensors and disable the fence's power source with his adorable little hands.
For his part Coulson seems to be actually listening, Skye not so much. She has her cellphone up and is messing with it.
Skye: I could go in.
No one seems to hear her.
Ward: Drop me in the hills outside of Valletta. I'll spend a few weeks establishing a cover, gathering intel –
Coulson: Hall doesn't have a few weeks.
Coulson walks away from the table frustrated.
Simmons: And to restate, any agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. caught on Maltese soil can be shot to d**h with bullets –
Fitz: Yeah.
Simmons: Legally.
Skye was leaning against the wall but now stands up straighter.
Skye: Not me. I could go in.
They all are finally looking at her.
Ward: Skye, this is serious.
Coulson: Wait.
He walks closer to her.
Coulson: What are you saying?
Skye: Well, I'm not an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., so I could go in without breaking all these stupid rules.
She pulls her phone back up and starts typing.
Simmons: International laws.
Ward: This isn't something the Rising Tide can hack, Skye.
Fitz: Did you hear the deadly lasers part? Without a brave monkey –
Skye: You said you could go in with a man inside.
May: And you want to be that man?
Skye: Fitz-Simmons loved the guy, and he needs help. They could be torturing him, or worse, making him do strength-training.
She shoots Ward a look at this then goes back to typing on her phone.
Ward: But you don't have the background or clearance or experience with any of this.
Ward has walked away from the table to stand closer to Skye, right next to Coulson.
Skye: I know.
She holds up her phone and shows them all the screen.
Skye: But I've got an invitation.
They all stare at her while the music builds, she looks at her phone then adds:
Skye: Well, technically it's an e-vite.
Commercial Break.
Open on The Bus flying through the night sky. We cut inside The Bus and see Coulson staring at a large rack of suits.
Coulson: I understand your concern, but we don't have a lot of options.
He pulls one suit out as the camera pans back to see Ward standing next to Coulson's closet.
Ward: Hey, I'm impressed. She just wrangled an invitation on her phone using insider back-channel voodoo in minutes. But sending her in with no training, you're taking a huge risk.
While Ward is speak Coulson is examining his suit choice. FYI, it looks exactly like the one he's wearing. He takes it deeper in the room leaving Ward by the closet, Ward follows after.
Ward: I know Director Fury felt he owed you after you sacrificed yourself.
Coulson: And my card collection.
Ward: He gave you some autonomy, but Skye on a covert op?
Coulson: Are you worried about her safety or her loyalty?
Ward: Both. The Rising Tide is the reason she got an invite. Who knows how many protocols she violated.
Now while they've been talking Coulson has set down his suit inside his office. He goes behind his desk and opens a binder reading something there.
Coulson: That's her job. Ignore protocol, find connections and back doors that nobody else can see. Something else is bother you.
Ward sighs and walks a few paces away.
Ward: She's holding back, sir. She says she wants to be an agent, but she won't commit. She doesn't listen, makes jokes.
Coulson: Were you hard on her?
Ward: Sure. I tried playing nice, too. I need a new strategy.
Coulson finishes what he was doing at his desk and looks at Ward. As he talks he walks around his desk to sit on the front of it and address Ward.
Coulson: Try no strategy. Stop thinking like an operative, start thinking like a person. Maybe Skye will let that person help her.
Ward: Help her what?
Coulson: Help her think like an operative.
He gives him a tiny smile and stands up.
Cut to Ward and Skye in the cargo hold. Ward has a gun pointed at Skye's chest.
Ward: Now, again, slowly, what's first?
Skye looks at his wrist then takes a hold of it, she then spins herself so that Ward's gun arm is over her shoulder and her back is to his chest.
Ward: And then?
Skye: Then? Things are moving too quickly. I'm a proper southern girl.
Ward drops his head in disappointment at her joking again as she takes on a southern accent.
Skye: You'll make me untidy.
Ward lets out a sigh and takes her other hand placing it on top of his holding the gun.
Ward: Twist the thumb, palm the barrel.
He pulls the gun out of her grip and walks away.
Skye: Ow.
Ward: You're gonna die and leave us hanging out to dry, you know that? You're going in with no self-defense sk**s –
Skye: I have a few tricks up my sleeve.
Ward: You need muscle memory, fundamentals, the tools to turn yourself –
Skye: Into a whole bag of tools?
Ward: How did you learn computer science without committing yourself to it?
Skye: C.S. comes naturally to me. I'm sorry I'm not a naturally whatever you are.
This seems to upset Ward, he walks closer to Skye.
Ward: You think this came naturally? I had a brother who beat the crap out of me, me and my little brother, for nothing. For eating a piece of his birthday cake. I had to learn to protect us, the way I am trying to protect you.
Skye for once doesn't have anything flippant to say.
Ward: That was my moment. You asked.
Skye: Sorry. I didn't mean to push.
There is a moment where they just stare at each other. However, Skye breaks the tension by holding up Ward's gun.
Skye: But I did manage to take this.
Ward is not impressed, he takes the gun from her.
Ward: Getting the gun is one thing. Pulling the trigger, that is another.
He once again points the gun a Skye's chest.
Ward: Now, again, slowly, what's first?
Cut to inside the Planning Room, they are using it for just that. Coulson is talking about the mission plan with everyone there.
Coulson: Skye will walk in the front door. The only external access point to Quinn's underground facility is from a beach cove.
He has walked over to the large screen. We see blueprints of Quinn's compound up on the screen and he points things out.
Coulson: A two man extraction team could slip in there, but it's not easy. Fitz-Simmons.
Fitz walks closer to the screen.
Fitz: The perimeter is surrounded by a 20 foot high neodymium laser grid. Touch it and you're toast.
Coulson: Dead toast. The only way to disable the grid is to crack the system and trigger a reboot. This would give the team three seconds to cross. Of course Quinn's too smart to allow any wireless access on his property.
Skye: That's where I come in.
Simmons opens a case that was sitting on the table.
Simmons: Yes, working compact – holds up under x-ray.
Fitz gets it out as Ward and Coulson move closer for a look. Fitz opens the compact and shows the inside to Skye.
Fitz: Desert Rose, to match your complexion.
Skye smiles at this.
Fitz: But, oh, what's this?
We see the mirror of the compact, it now has five red dots on it.
Fitz: A read out, okay?
The lights switch from five red on the left side to five green on the right side.
Fitz: Turns green if you're in close enough proximity to a computer to gain wireless access.
Simmons: When it does you just drop this nearby and walk out. We'll do the rest. Easy as pie.
Ward: Or it will be, if you stick to the plan.
Ward racks his gun causing the distinct click.
Skye: Got it. Plan, green, drop, walk…pie.
As Fitz hands her the compact Coulson walks over to May.
May: I don't want to question your orders, sir.
Coulson: Good.
He steps around her to start out of the room, she sighs and speaks anyway. Coulson stops walking and May turns toward him.
May: But, I've already seen far more combat than I bargained for. This two man extraction team? It's exactly the kind of action I was hoping to avoid.
Coulson turns to face her.
Coulson: That's why you're not on it.
May gives him a disbelieving look.
May: Specialist work is different from field work, believe me. When was the last time you –
Coulson: Hall's one of ours and he's in trouble. I need two men to get him out. Ward makes one.
He stares at her a long moment, she is the first to shift her eyes away.
Coulson: So that's why I'm going in. You forget, I saw plenty of action with The Avengers.
He walks away but May says something under her breath.
May: And you died.
Coulson: All right team, suit up.
We cut to a coastal city in daytime. The runner on the bottom of the screen says: Republic of Malta.
We cut to the front of Quinn's estate. People are entering when a taxi pulls up. Skye, looking fancy in a pink dress with her hair curled, gets out of the taxi. She takes a deep breath then walks forward to the front door.
Cut to inside the party, people are milling about, drinking and talking in low tones. A waitress stops by Skye with a tray of Champaign, she takes one.
Skye: Thank you.
The waitress walks away and Skye walks deeper into the party, sipping on her Champaign and taking it all in. Now a waiter walks up to Skye.
Waiter: Hors D'oeuvre, Madame?
She takes some sort of skewer off the tray and continues walking, but a man's voice stops her.
Man: Who are you?
She quickly turns around to face the man. He is an older gentleman, a younger one walks over when he speaks to Skye.
Young Man: Oh, apologizes for his manners. He knows very little English.
Skye: Oh, that, uh, that's – what, whatever.
She waves away the worry then extends her hand to the older man for a handshake.
Skye: Skye.
He slowly reaches out and shakes her hand.
Older Man: Qasim Zaghlul.
Skye: Big fan. You built half of Dubai, including the Arabian Blade.
He gives just the tiniest smirk.
Skye: I love that building, it's super sci-fi. Where's your wife…
We cut to inside The Bus. May and Simmons are standing at the Planning Table. May is feeding information to Skye as needed.
May: Wife's name is Nadrah.
Cut back to Skye.
Skye: …Nadrah?
We hear May over Skye's earpiece.
May: Twin sons.
Skye: Is she staying at home with the boys?
Cut back to inside The Bus. It looks like Fitz has just arrived, with a large bowl of popcorn. He whispers to the others.
Fitz: How's she doing?
May and Simmons answer at the same time.
Both: She's good.
Cut back to Skye, she reaches out and touches Qasim on the arm.
Skye: The pleasure is mine.
She gives them a small laugh then turns away. She almost immediately puts her hand to her ear after walking away from the men to talk to them on The Bus. (Something that would seem super obvious to me, but whatever.)
Skye: I could get used to this, people. It's like Siri if it worked.
Skye looks at a group of people off to her right.
Skye: Sipper to Bravo, I got eyes on top dog. The eagle is landing on it.
Cut back to The Bus, May and Simmons look confused.
Simmons: What are you doing?
Cut back to Skye.
Skye: Uh, sorry, I – I don't know. I see Quinn, I'm gonna go talk to him.
She starts off toward him.
Cut to The Bus, the three of them give each other worried looks.
Cut back to Skye. Quinn is walking toward her so she positions herself in his path.
Quinn: I mean, that and it's effective on the industrial average.
She joins the group, when the others laugh so does she.
Man: That was good.
Skye: Yeah, right? Ian Quinn. I'm your last minute party crasher. Skye.
She extends her hand and he takes it giving it a shake.
Quinn: Oh.
He chuckles.
Quinn: Wow.
She chuckles as well.
Quinn: Great to meet you.
He address the others in the group around him.
Quinn: This is Skye, a member of The Rising Tide.
They all look at her, she gives a little wave.
Quinn: They're a group of hackers. They've gotten some pretty big secrets out to the public.
Skye looks at the others.
Skye: I prefer “Hacktivist”. I'm glad you've heard of our site.
Quinn: I read it. We think very much alike, more freedom of information, less government infringing on everyone's rights, I'm a fan.
Skye: That explains the invite. This is a tough party to get into.
Quinn: Not as hard to get into as the encrypted back channel you contact us through to request the invite.
She laughs.
Skye: That's sort of where I live.
Quinn: You got to show me how you did that, I mean, if you sign on.
She looks to the others then back to him. This totally throws her off.
Skye: Sign what, now?
Quinn: I've been known to turn a few black hats into white hats. Not just for vulnerability an*lysis, but for very creative thinking.
Skye: A-Are you offering me a job?
Quinn: Well I didn't invite you here for your pretty face. I didn't know you had a pretty face. Yes, I want to hire you before someone else snatches you up.
He walks away from the group leaving Skye looking shocked. We hear May over her earpiece.
May: That seemed to go well.
Skye: Yeah, it did.
(Once again all she does is turn her back to the other people standing there, putting no distance between them. Probably won't amount to much, but she's bad at the stealth part of undercover.)
She takes a drink as the people at the party start to clap, Quinn has gotten in front of them to address them all. He is under a tent standing at a podium talking.
Quinn: Many of you shareholders have been with us for years, and I see a few new names here, but I want to thank you all for traveling so far to this beautiful country. And, well, for slumming it at Shaba Tal-Banar.
The crown laughs at his joke as he takes a drink.
Quinn: This country where we are allowed to pursue progress and profit without the stranglehold of regulations that are now choking our world. The United States government, the E.U., the DRTC, S.H.I.E.L.D., these are just a few of the institutions that are guilty of halting the development of new technology for anyone, except themselves.
Cut to the beach, we see Coulson and Ward coming ashore dragging an inflatable raft. While they do this we still hear Quinn's voice.
Quinn: We dare defy them with a new idea.
We zoom closer to Coulson and Ward, Ward is in black pants with a black T-shirt, Coulson is – as usual – in a suit and tie.
Quinn: The steal in and sweep it out from under us.
Cut back to Quinn.
Quinn: But not today. You're all aware of what Quinn Worldwide has been able to do with basic minerals, let alone Uranium or Plutonium, despite these unjust restrictions that weigh the scales in the other guy's favor.
We pan over to Skye, she looks around seeing everyone is watching Quinn and begins to move away. We then pan back to Quinn.
Quinn: Well, today, I'm announcing something new, an element that could balance those scales.
The camera pans over from Quinn to the TV screen next to him showing the atom of gravitonium.
Quinn: And I mean that quite literally.
Cut to inside the room where we saw the full sized version of the device Quinn gave to Hall. Now there is a black undulating ma** being lowered so it is parallel with the center of the device. We still hear Quinn's voice.
Quinn: Imagine if you could control gravity.
The camera cuts to show Hall busy at work on some monitors.
Quinn: If instead of drilling for oil, it rose up to greet you.
Cut back to Quinn.
Quinn: Imagine if you could move a super tanker's worth of cargo with a swipe of your hand.
Cut back to inside the room with the full sized device. The robotic arm that lowered the black ma** into place is now behind it, pushing it into the center of the device. We still hear Quinn talking.
Quinn: Well, we will do this and more.
Hall is busy punching things into the computer. We hear Coulson speaking while we watch Hall.
Coulson: This could have been a traumatic experience for Dr. Hall.
Cut to Coulson and Ward on the beach.
Coulson: He may not be the same when we find him, Ward. I'll talk him down. We don't want your personality to set him on edge.
Ward: Great time for humor, sir. My people sk**s are the least of our problems if Skye can't get us in.
Cut to Skye walking down a hallway looking for a signal. She stops outside a set of double doors and pushes on them, it doesn't open.
Skye: It's locked, but there's no lock.
Cut to The Bus, Fitz, holding the popcorn bowl and eating some, answers.
Fitz: Eh, check for a keypad.
Cut to Skye, she leans to the left side of the door then the right looking.
Skye: Nothing. Wait, you can hack a keypad?
She looks impressed. We cut to Fitz who's face falls.
Fitz: No, not over the phone.
May: Is there a reception desk?
Skye looks to her right and sees a small desk set up in the hallway, she walks toward it.
Skye: Okay, yeah.
She gets to the desk.
Skye: Well, now what do I do?
Skye looks to her left when she hears Quinn's voice.
Quinn: What are you trying to do?
She sets down her gla** then looks at the desk.
Skye: Just…
She chuckles.
Skye: Looking for a pen.
She pulls one out and holds it up to him.
Skye: Here we go.
She laughs again, Quinn smiles but he's not buying what she's selling.
Skye: Got to write down all those good ideas, you know what I mean? Of course you know what I mean. You probably have like 10 pens for all your ideas.
Quinn: What are you really doing?
She looks nervous for a moment then seems to think of something.
Skye: All right. I'm busted. I was trying to get a glimpse behind your office doors, see how things really operate.
He takes a few steps closer to her.
Quinn: I invite you here as a guest, you treat me like another corrupt institution, looking for trade secrets to leak online.
He backs up from her and puts his phone near his mouth.
Quinn: Security.
Skye: No, no, no, wait.
He takes the phone down.
Skye: It's just with all these la-di-da people, you have to be so guarded, so careful. What'd you say, what secrets you reveal.
She is leaning down to the desk, she appears to be writing something.
Skye: And…I was hoping that you and I could be honest with one another. If you know what I mean.
She holds up the piece of paper she was writing on, it says: SHIELD is listening. His face turns serious and she nods her head.
Commercial Break.
Open inside The Bus. Fitz, Simmons and May are still listening in. We can hear Skye's voice over the intercom.
Skye: My office had less space, more wheels. Wow. A view of the ocean and the pool.
Quinn: Not a bad place to do business.
May: Got the dispatch leaking Hall's location. User's an alias.
Fitz: Oh, can you trace the DHCP server –
May: Trace is running, but it'll take time. Our girl?
Simmons: I thought she was done for, but she's just sweet talked her way into Quinn's office.
May: How'd she manage that?
Fitz: Pbht! She probably just used her, um…
He has raised both of his hands up by his chest indicating her breasts.
Both Simmons and May shoot him a look and he starts to stammer.
Fitz: Uh…uh…her, uh…ah, b**bs.
Simmons sighs.
Simmons: Ugh. That's the only explanation –
She is cut off when the audio fee from Skye goes silent.
Simmons: Oh, my gosh, the signal's dead.
She hits a bu*ton the gets worried.
Simmons: Fitz!
Fitz: What, I didn't , she must've, oh lord.
Cut to Quinn's compound. The earpiece Skye was wearing is dropped into a Champagne gla**. Skye lets out a sigh.
Skye: Much better. Haven't felt that “someone's watching my every move” feeling since I failed my driver's test.
Quinn: You want to tell me what the hell is going on?
He picks up the gla** looking at the earpiece.
Quinn: S.H.I.E.L.D. got to you?
Skye: They picked me up in L.A., I helped them in a crisis, and now they want to recruit me.
Quinn: Of course they do.
He sets the gla** down on his desk.
Skye: So, I played along, talk about inside info, I have a bunk on their plane. I've been gathering intel, biding my time until I could become useful. I thought this qualified.
Quinn: Why would they trust you with a covert operation like this?
Skye: Something about S.H.I.E.L.D. not breaking international laws. They had no other options, whereas I like to keep mine open.
Cut to Coulson and Ward on the beach. The come across a sign that says: DO NOT CROSS LETHAL RADIATION. Coulson bites his lip then bends down and picks up some rocks. He throws them up in the air and they hit the laser grid, flashing yellow. Ward takes a deep breath and gives Coulson a look of worry.
Ward: Next patrol any minute now.
May's voice comes to them over their earpieces.
May: Skye's offline. Repeat, we've lost audio and vitals.
Ward: Abort is not an option, but if she's compromising –
Coulson: She's still our only way in to get to Dr. Hall.
Ward: And we're their only way out.
We hear a man's voice behind them.
Man: Beach is all clear. Let's move up the ridge.
Coulson and Ward move quickly trying to find cover as guards come walking up toward them.
Cut back to Skye and Quinn, she is now sitting on the sofa in his office.
Skye: You're saying they wanted to rope me in because I pose a genuine threat?
Quinn is standing next to one of the windows.
Quinn: Yes, and fit their profile.
Skye: Profile?
Quinn: Sure. You're a criminal. You have a warrant somewhere.
She scoffs.
Skye: Probably.
Quinn: Specialized sk** set.
Skye: I try to stay humble, but fail.
Quinn: No family.
Skye has no quip for this, she lowers her eyes for a moment.
Quinn: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit a nerve, but that is what these people do. S.H.I.E.L.D.
He leans in close to her.
Quinn: They prey on fear and loneliness and desperation, and then they offer a home to those who have no one else to turn to. I can offer you something better.
She looks away.
Cut back to the beach. The guards have crested the top of the ridge where Coulson and Ward are hiding. Coulson rushes out of some bushes and knocks the lead security guard's hand away from his gun. Ward fights another as Coulson takes down his. In short order they have the guards knocked out. Coulson took one of their guns and takes the clip out, he goes to clear the chamber but has a problem.
Coulson: Damn. A little rusty, I guess.
Ward takes the gun out of his hands and casually throws it into the laser grid, it goes up in a puff of smoke.
Coulson: Guy's clocks ticking. Where's Skye?
Cut back to Skye and Quinn.
Quinn: Stay with us, there's no secrets, no lies and no agenda. You're free to do what you do without big brother watching over you.
Quinn stands and walks to sit next to Skye on the sofa.
Quinn: But first, you have to tell me exactly what agenda S.H.I.E.L.D. sent you in here with.
Skye: Well, they wanted me to do whatever it takes to get in here.
She opens her purse and pulls out the compact. She looks at herself in the mirror and sees that there are red dots on the left side of the mirror.
Quinn: Get in here and…?
The lights suddenly go green. She runs a finger under one of her eyes.
Skye: Bat my eyes.
She snaps it closed then sets it on the table.
Skye: Get you talking.
Cut to The Bus. A despondent looking Simmons is leaning down over the table as May studies a monitor behind her. May quickly turns when she hears a beeping sound.
May: We're in!
Simmons stands straighter.
Simmons: She's done it!
May: Fitz, you're up.
He quickly hurries over to the table.
Fitz: Oh, mother of all things.
He tries to cut in front of May to get at the table.
Fitz: Move, move, move!
He is quickly typing away.
Cut to Coulson and Ward, they have tied the hands of the security guards. A voice comes over the security guards radio.
Man: We have a man down! Hostiles on the east ridge!
Coulson and Ward both duck when gunfire hits around them. They run to the laser grid but find it still one when a bullet hits it.
Coulson: We need a reset here, Fitz!
Cut to The Bus, Fitz is still furiously typing.
Cut back to Coulson and Ward. They continue to duck from incoming fire as Ward pulls out his gun.
Coulson: Fitz!
Cut back to The Bus, Fitz is still working.
Simmons: Saying his name repeatedly does not increase productivity!
Fitz: Okay, go.
Simmons: Oh, maybe it does.
The monitor behind Fitz and Simmons shows a countdown of three seconds.
Cut to Coulson and Ward, the grid goes down and they rush through. We can hear Fitz voice over their earpieces.
Fitz: System rebooting in two, one, now!
For some reason Ward has waited until the last possible moment to dive through the opening. A shot is fired at them but it hits the grid instead of them. With the cover of the grid they hurry away. We next see them walking up some stairs toward the house.
Coulson: I'll look for Dr. Hall down in the lab.
Ward: I'll get Skye.
They split up.
We cut to Skye and Quinn.
Quinn: No, you can't be the only angle. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s thorough enough to know about me and my exploits. It takes more than a pretty face to disarm me.
A large man enters the room.
Large Man: Sir, we have a security breach.
Quinn gets off the sofa quickly.
Skye: Oh, the timing on that was perfect.
Quinn lets out a sigh and picks up her compact. He takes one look at it then breaks it in two and throws down the pieces. He turns to the large man, pats the large mans' chest, and then pulls out his gun and points it at Skye.
Cut to inside the lab where Dr. Hall is still working over his monitor. The door opens and Coulson enters.
Coulson: Dr. Hall.
Coulson enters the room, shoots a glance at the device, then turns his attention back on Hall.
Coulson: Agent Coulson, we have an exit strategy.
Hall isn't look at him, he's paying attention to the device.
Hall: S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Coulson: Yes, sir. Let's get you out of here.
Coulson heads to the door but Hall's voice stops him.
Hall: I'm sorry, Mr. Coulson, I'm right where I'm supposed to be.
He spares Coulson a brief glance then goes back to working on the device.
Coulson: I'll be honest, our strategy did not take into consideration you saying that.
Cut to May on The Bus, she's still trying to locate where the leak of Hall's whereabouts came from. There are two messages on her screen: Alias Identified and Camera Memory Loading… Once it does load we see Dr. Hall looking at the camera, on the bottom of the screen it says: Alias DHCP Login Identified; Work Station 32.29.1 Camera Memory Accessed. May lets out a sigh.
May: Oh, no.
Cut back to Coulson in the lab with Hall. He's standing in front of the device with his back to it not paying it much attention.
Coulson: Look, I don't know what Quinn is promising you but –
Hall: An opportunity.
There are zapping noises coming from the device. This gets Coulson's attention finally and he looks back at the device. The black undulating ma** is now sparking blue with electricity and the rings around it are spinning. Coulson looks from the device to Hall.
Coulson: We can't let Quinn have control of this. It's too dangerous.
Hall: We can't let anyone have control of this. That's why I'm here, to bury it at the bottom of the ocean, with him.
The sounds of zapping have increased and how the rings are beginning to light up with power. Coulson steps closer to the gla** separating them and looks at the device. May's voice comes over Coulson's earpiece.
May: Coulson.
Cut to May on The Bus.
May: The leak came from –
Cut back to Coulson still looking at the device.
Coulson: Dr. Hall. Yeah, I'm getting that.
Hall: All petitions, embargos in the world could stop Ian. He grows more powerful every day. And then I get word that he's found this.
We see the device and the rings are spinning even faster. As we watch the whole thing seems to come alive with electricity. The force of it coming alive seems to rock the whole compound, Coulson is knocked back for a second.
Hall: I'm sorry, Mr. Coulson. I had to make a choice.
Hall hits another bu*ton and holds it, this seems to discharge the energy that's been building. The cabinets in the room all open spilling out the contents and sending them toward the device.
Coulson: Something tells me that wasn't the “off” bu*ton!
Suddenly Coulson is ripped off his feet and throw to the right out of frame.
Commercial Break.
We open back inside the lab. Coulson is knocked out on the floor with bottles and various things strewn around him. He wakes up with a gasp and puts his hand to his earpiece.
Coulson: Guys, we need to talk.
Cut to May, she's walking down one of the sets of metal stairs, she puts her hand to her own earpiece.
May: Lost you for a minute. We're aware of the problem, sir. Hall wanted Quinn to kidnap him?
May enters Fitz-Simmons' lab, they are busy at work.
Fitz: Yeah, why would he do that?
Simmons: What is wrong with him?
Cut to Coulson still trying to get his bearings and get to his feet.
Coulson: Quinn built a gravity generator, like the one we found but bigger. Hall knew Quinn would need him to control its raw power, but Hall just wanted to unleash it.
Coulson has managed to get to his knees but grunts in pain.
Cut back to the lab on The Bus.
Simmons: The one that we found was 2.5 centimeters in diameter. It stopped a semi.
Cut back to Coulson.
Simmons: How big are we talking?
Coulson: 12 feet. It'll definitely take down the entire compound.
Cut to the lab on the bus.
Simmons: It'll skink the place.
Fitz: No, it'll do more than that.
Cut to Coulson.
Coulson: Work a solution. I'll disconnect the power before things get…
He's finally able to stand taller on his knees. When he does he sees that he is hanging upside down on the ceiling. The only thing left on the real ground is the monitor Hall was using, and that's cause it's actually bolted to the floor.
Coulson: Crazy.
The camera does a 180 spin so that the room is right for us from Coulson's perspective. As the camera spins Hall enters the room holding a gun.
Hall: They can't help you.
He walks over to the cabinet that held the bottle of booze and pulls it out showing it to Coulson with a smile.
Hall: Soon, It'll reach and exponential acceleration state.
Hall has pulled a gla** out of the cabinet. He bends down and picks up a chair righting it. Coulson gets off the floor and stands. Hall is looking at the device so Coulson looks at it too.
Hall: I'm sorry.
The device is spinning really face, all the lines are glowing on it.
Coulson: My team's here, good people.
Hall: Sworn to protect all mankind? That's what I'm doing, I promise. Making things right.
He holds up his gla** at a weird angle and pours his drink, the liquid goes sideways. He chuckles then takes a drink. Suddenly the whole room shifts. Coulson is thrown against a wall as Hall stands and his chair his swept away from him. Hall's starts walking with an exaggerated slant to his body.
Cut to a Skye and Quinn. Quinn pushes Skye against the wall with one hand holding her neck and the other holding the gun to her head.
Quinn: Don't you get it? S.H.I.E.L.D.'s against everything you stand for. They're Big Brother.
Skye: Maybe. But they're the nice Big Brother who stands up for his helpless little brother when he's getting beat up because he ate a piece of cake that he wasn't…
Skye is rambling and Quinn looks lost.
Skye: You know…you kidnapped a person!
Quinn gets upset at this, he releases Skye and steps away from her.
Quinn: I set him free! I saved him!
Skye ma**ages her neck once it's free.
Quinn: And I could've saved you.
Cut to Ward, he enters a hallway and looks around
Ward: This place is ma**ive.
He chooses to go left.
Cut to The Bus. There is map of the compound up on the monitor in the lab. May is there, along with Fitz-Simmons, leading Ward.
Ward: Where am I heading?
May: Southwest corner.
We cut back to Ward. He starts to move but then stops, the device is starting to affect the gravity above.
May: Ward, tell me you've got things covered on the ground.
Cut back to The Bus.
May: I can't do a damn thing from out here.
Cut back to Ward, he's looking around trying to figure out what's happening.
Ward: I'm working on it.
He goes the opposite way down the hallway.
Cut to Skye and Quinn, the ground below them rocks causing them to lose their balance. Quinn becomes even more upset.
Quinn: Tell me what they're doing!
Skye remains silent and looks scared, Quinn lowers his voice and puts softness in it.
Quinn: Tell me what they're doing. You have to talk. You have no other way out of this.
He laughs and pulls his gun up to point at her head again.
Quinn: You're expendable to S.H.I.E.L.D. They sent you in here with nothing.
Skye busts out the move Ward taught her on The Bus, disarming Quinn of his gun. She points it at Quinn and his bodyguard.
Skye: They taught me a few things.
Security Guard: Kids got balls.
Skye: Thanks but, yuck.
Quinn: But, do you have what it takes to pull the trigger?
Skye thinks about this, her eyes go wide.
Skye: Nope.
She drops the gun, runs out the door and leaps off the balcony into the pool below.
Cut back to inside the room with Quinn.
Quinn: Get her.
The second body guard rushes past Quinn and the first toward the doorway. They are all once again knocked around from the device. This time Quinn falls to the floor. There are two pins there and for a moment they balance on their points, then lower. Quinn rolls his eyes.
Quinn: Hall. We have to evacuate. Get the chopper. Now!
The guard hurry to do his bidding.
Cut back to inside the compounds lab. The device is running even faster now. Coulson is sliding along one of the walls, going upwards toward the ceiling. Hall gets to his feet and points the gun on Coulson.
Hall: All I had to do to get access to Quinn's lab was drop little clues, create puzzles for him to solve. Quinn likes to feel smart.
Coulson: So you leaked your location. Why not try reasoning with him?
Hall: You can't reason with an addict, and he's addicted to exploiting opportunities. He never gives a thought to the friends, ecosystems, future generations left ruin in his wake.
Coulson: Like Agents Fitz and Simmons, your former students?
Hall drops the gun down taking this in.
Coulson: I've got them in my ear right now telling me you're not a bad guy. We could've worked with you on this.
The devices powers up more and sends out another blast knocking them around. Hall maintains his footing but Coulson falls to the floor.
Hall: S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Hall gets upset.
Hall: S.H.I.E.L.D. is just as guilty of the same thing, experimentation without thought of consequences! Your search for an unlimited power source, brought an alien invasion.
Coulson nods his head.
Coulson: Fair point.
The room rocks again and Hall falls to his knees, he is still pointing the gun at Coulson however. Coulson tries to regain his footing.
Hall: This element is far too powerful for you, for him, for anyone! I don't have to tell you that.
Another tremor rocks the room.
Hall: You're feeling it now.
Once again the room shifts causing them both to lose their footing.
Cut to outside, a helicopter takes flight. It seems like the party is still going on but all the party goers and help staff are frightened and trying to figure out what's going on. Skye runs past them. She stops for a moment, figures out where she is and continues running. She sees a couple of security guards appear from a flight of steps and turns to run the other way. One guard comes up from that way blocking her escape. The two behind her catcher her and hold her by her arms.
Skye: No, no, no, no! Please, please!
Ward suddenly appears behind the one guard, when the guard turns Ward elbows him in the face then fights him. The other two guard release Skye and fight Ward. Ward quickly takes the three guard out. Once she's sure the guards are down Skye rushes to Ward, she is nearly clinging to him and panting with fright.
Ward: Are you hurt?
She shakes her head.
Ward: Just follow my orders. I'll get us out of here.
He takes her hand and leads her away.
Cut to inside the lab where all hell is breaking lose. Papers, bottles, people and a gun are flying all around the room. Hall gets to the gun before Coulson can but Coulson is able to hit Hall when they both stand up. He knocks Hall down and takes control of the gun.
Hall: I see the future, Mr. Coulson, and it's a catastrophe.
Now that the room is calm we can see that the “floor” now is actually the wall with the window that leads into the device.
Coulson: I just see a lot of people in trouble.
He pulls a wire down from the wall causing sparks.
Coulson: Nothing, Fitz-Simmons?
Cut to the lab on The Bus.
Coulson: I tried to cut the power. It's still going.
They both sit up straighter.
Fitz: You need to find a catalyst.
Simmons: Find a catalyst. Something to create a chemical reaction in the core.
Cut back to the lab in the compound.
Coulson: It's not too late to do the right thing. Help me find a catalyst.
Hall: I am doing the right thing, a completely selfless act. I know that history never celebrates what didn't happen. They'll call this a – a tragedy.
The camera pans over to show Ward and Skye looking in the little window on the door.
Hall: They won't understand the good I did here.
We cut to Coulson, he sees them but keeps his attention on Hall.
Coulson: k**ing innocent people?
Hall looks insulted.
Hall: Saving millions. We have to live with the choices we make, but sometimes we have to die with them, too.
Coulson lowers his gun.
Coulson: I understand. You made a hard call.
Hall: Yes.
Coulson: And now I have to make mine.
He fires the gun into the window below them, the one that leads directly into the device. Coulson jumps up and grabs a wire hanging above his head. Hall isn't so lucky. He drops through the open window and falls into the device. The undulating black ma** envelopes Hall in slow motion eventually covering his body and face. Once this happens everything in the room falls into its proper place with gravity returned to normal – this includes Coulson. The door opens and Ward and Skye enter. Coulson looks at the device and Ward and Skye do the same. The undulating black ma** is still as it was, no bigger having absorbed Hall, and the rings slow to a stop. Skye and Ward both shoot a look to Coulson then look back at the device.
Cut to some sort of security footage. There is a young looking man on the screen and Coulson is speaking to him from The Bus.
Coulson: Say it back to me.
Young Agent: Deepest level of the fridge, unmarked vault, no access granted.
Behind the Young Agent a forklift is backing up then pulling away, we can see the device has just be unloaded from it.
Coulson: And no recorded entry, I don't want this listed. I don't want it flagged for the slingshot.
We can now see that it looks like the device was loaded onto a truck, they are closing the doors in the background.
Coulson: Anyone finds out, you're responsible, and suffering. Understood?
Young Agent: Yes, Sir.
Coulson: That's what Hall would've wanted.
We hear a beep of the feed cutting out and Coulson turns to his desk and sighs. He picks up his gun and looks at it with confusion.
Coulson: I used to have this down.
He is obviously still caught up in the fact that he couldn't disarm the gun on the beach earlier. He's trying to do it with his own pistol.
Coulson: Should be just muscle memory.
He's having no luck. We hear May's voice off screen.
May: You're making a habit of it, sir.
May is standing in the doorway leaning against it with her arms crossed.
Coulson: Trying. Guess I'm a little rusty.
May: Of these close calls, I mean.
Coulson looks up from his gun at her words.
May: I don't enjoy running back end.
Coulson turns to face her after setting down his gun.
Coulson: You want off the plane? Go ahead.
May stands up straight and walks toward Coulson.
May: I want in.
She stops before him and puts her hands behind her back, standing up straight.
May: Reporting for combat next time it's up.
Coulson: You committed to the cause or just watching my back?
She gives a ghost of a smile.
May: Same thing.
She starts away.
May: And you are a little rusty.
With that she leaves as Coulson smiles.
Cut to the cargo area, Skye is there punching the bag. Ward enters from above and looks down at her with a smile. After a second he walks down the stairs. Skye shows no indication he's there, but she knows. While they speak she continues to hit the bag.
Skye: You and your brothers, where'd you grow up?
Ward: Ma**achusetts, mostly.
Skye: A house?
Ward: You didn't?
This question causes her to stop hitting, she steadies the bag and looks at Ward.
Skye: One house.
She walks away from the bag messing with the tape around her hands. She pa**ed by Ward still standing on the last stair, when she does he follows after.
Skye: The Brodys.
She picks up a water bottle taking a drink.
Skye: I was 9. Sent me back to St. Agnes after a month. Said I wasn't a good fit.
Ward: Foster parents. Your first?
Skye: My third.
Ward walks a bit closer to her.
Skye: I had heard it before, but…this one was different.
She looks down sadly.
Ward: Cause you wanted them to like you.
Now she looks up at Ward, he gets it, and she nods.
Skye: Bad.
She looks away seeming lost in the memories.
Skye: I called her “mom” once, tried it out.
She lets out a deep sigh then walks back over to the bag.
Skye: Guess it wasn't a good fit.
She begins to hit the bag again.
Skye: Hoping for something and losing it hurts more than never hoping for anything.
Ward walks over to the bag and holds the opposite side from Skye. After a second she looks at him.
Ward: We won't turn our back.
Skye: Doesn't matter. I made my choice. I want this. Bad.
She gets into punching, Ward nods and holds the bag tighter.
Skye: And I know there's a truth serum.
Ward: Whatever you say, Rookie.
Title logo.
Cut to some sort of vault. Inside is the black undulating box, it is housed inside a clear gla** box. Two men push the heavy vault door shut as we cut inside the vault. We see the black ma** from the backside as the Young Agent watches on as the vault is closed. The camera pans down to the ma** and we watch it ripple and move.
We cut outside the vault, the two men get the door closed and spin the wheels locking it. The two men move away ad Young Agent walks to the door. He twists one of the wheels more securing the lock. There is a marker on the door: L23-826-59. Young Agent removes the marker from the door. He puts it inside a inside coat pocket and walks away.
Cut to inside the vault, we are once again looking at the black ma** from the backside. It continues to ripple when suddenly a hand shoots out of it reaching before it is suddenly s**ed back inside the ma**.