She had gone missing for twelve days. Her earpieces broke down and she had no way to contact S.H.I.E.L.D. to let them now her whereabouts. Nothing new, really, she had seen worse.
What worried Melinda was not the fact that she was out there alone on a HYDRA secret base, she knew she would get out of there. She wasn’t even worried she could fail her mission, it had never happened.
What she was really worried about was the fact that she knew she was having people worried about her too.
She imagined Phil pacing back and forth in his office waiting for her to call him. Fitzsimmons probably trying to come up with some new gadget to reach out to her, something with either a funny or a difficult name she would never be able to pronounce. She could see Daisy getting impatient and trying not to create earthquakes while she studied some rescue plan.
There was plenty of reasons why she hadn’t wanted to be on Coulson’s team in the first place, and getting attached to people was the main one.
She had sworn to herself she would have done it again, not after the little girl in Bahrain.
Still, there she was, the mother in that weird bunch of people who had become a family.
And a mother should never let her children worry.
She gave a quick look around the room and counted seven men. The first one didn’t even notice her, and did not have enough time to scream for help.
With his gun she took down the other two down that same corner.
She dodged a couple bullets and hid behind a shelf, then she climbed onto it, hung on to the chandelier and fell right above the fourth man, breaking some of his bones.
She had only the time to get up when the other three arrived, one from each side.
Melinda loved these kind of attacks.
She jumped and threw a mid-air kick to the man on the left, turned around to punch the one from behind in the face, got to her feet, ducked to avoid a punch herself, grabbed the man’s legs and threw him on the ground.
They all stood up again and again May knocked them out.
She stole a motorbike on her way out and drove as fast as she could.
She was finally coming back.
Daisy was the first one to notice her; the girl ran toward her mentor and hugged her as soon as she stepped inside the base. “May, you’re back” she said with tears in her eyes. May tightened her hug. “Yes Daisy, I’m back.”
Fitz and Simmons greeted her and told her about the strange machines they were building to find her –as always, most of the words were completely new to her. Nevertheless, she felt somewhat glad to be in that conversation.
And there he was, Phil. As soon as he arrived, the kids stepped aside, sharing quick glances and trying not to smile.
“Mel..” Coulson walked slowly towards her.
“Phil..” she wrapped her arms around him so tight she could break him.
“I was worried sick, I didn’t manage to find a way to contact you..” his voice was trembling, almost broke.
“I know, but I’m here now.”
She could hear the sound of his heartbeat, and god, how she had missed it.
They broke apart and found the kids staring at them with puppy eyes.
At that, Melinda couldn’t help but smile.
“What? You’ve never seen mommy and daddy hug?”