Chapter 8
The vent was tight, a whole lot tighter than it had looked when she started up. On one hand, it made it a whole lot easier for her to climb, letting her brace herself and pretty much wiggle up the shaft, but on the other hand, she wasn't sure how she was going to be able to get out, unless someone broke through a wall to free her. How hard was it to break through a wall? Was it harder or easier than a door? A door, Coulson, May or Ward could handle no problem. Surely a wall couldn't be much more difficult, right? Skye shook her head, forcing herself to focus. Worry about how she was going to get out of here later. Right now the most important thing to think about was getting someone's attention and getting help downstairs for Agent Hand fast.
Getting someone's attention would probably be a lot easier if people hadn't poked heavy and noisy equipment against the wall in front of the vent shaft she was climbing up, that was for sure. She had to be at the next level, but it sounded like there was a jackhammer or something going on the other side. Had someone forgotten and left a jackhammer plugged in when they collapsed with the flu?
Up, she pulled herself up a few inches more, and suddenly there was a breeze brushing her fingertips, the only warning she had to jerk her hand back before it could be caught in the fan blades that were whirling above her, alarmingly sharp looking fan blades.
A fan. Perfect. Just perfect. Now what was she going to do? If she went down, and she wasn't sure that she could, Agent Hand was going either going to die or end up with enough brain damage that she would probably wish she was dead. Poor Jemma had looked about ready to cry, so Skye knew it had to be beyond serious.
She had to find some way to keep going up. Skye looking up, trying to see around the whirling blades. Was that… It looked like there was another opening, running parallel to the vent she was in, about twenty feet above the fan, and she felt a bit of hope. If she could make it to that, and if it was big enough to squeeze through, surely she could make someone hear her. If she could just get past the fan.
She really ought to have asked Fitz for some sort of tool in case she ran into a problem, but it was too late to think of that now. There had to be some way she could stop those blades and get past the fan. No way to kick it, though, and it looked like it would take off fingers if she tried to grab it with her hands. What did she have that she could use? Her phone was out, on the off chance she might be able to use it in here. What… She raised her head to look up at the fan, and the movement of the chain around her neck hit her. The necklace? The chain was probably stronger than it should be, she knew from an experience she had had with a mugger before hooking up with the team. If she could get it around one of the blades, maybe she could stop the fan for at least a few seconds, long enough to grab it anyway, and come up with a way to stop it permanently. Anyway, it was the only idea she had.
She unfastened the chain from around her neck and eased up a few inches, the better to try to toss it and catch on one of the blades. It bounced and slipped off first once and then twice but apparently the third time was the charm, because Skye suddenly had the fan and she didn't know what to do but to let go of her foothold on the wall and let the necklace and the fan take her weight.
She slid down almost half a foot, her fingers burning and then there was a snap from above her head, and she slipped down a few more inches before she could catch herself and risk raising her head.
It worked. She gasped in relief, almost not believing what she was seeing for a moment. Somehow, iit had actually worked. The fan was swaying, blades bent to the side and not moving. And her necklace was even in one piece. Surely that was a good sign. She felt herself moving faster as she climbed, easing around the blades and collecting her necklace before starting towards the opening she had seen.
Small, it was small, though, almost smaller than the vent she was currently in, but…. If she was right, about where she was, this had to run either behind a wall or in the ceiling leading to one of the main areas of the Hub. If she could get there, she could get help.
"Just please don't let there be any more fans." She muttered to herself as she crawled through the opening and started to ease forward on her stomach, squishing herself up as much as she could and trying to think small. And please let Jemma think up something to help Agent Hand until she could get back with help.