Werner
Disclaimer: none of the characters aremine, but belong to Marvel.
When Werner opened his eyes and got into a sitting position upon his bed, he was greeted by a cautiously smiling young woman, who presented him with a tray of hospital food, including warm chicken soup.
"Hi," she said, still clearly wary, but doing her best to appear friendly. "I'm Jemma Simmons, nice to meet you."
"No, it's not," Werner shook his head as he gingely began to eat his first meal in a while. "But my name is Werner, if it is all the same to you."
"Von Strucker, you mean," Jemma laughed a bit. It sounded forced, but not very.
"In these circumstances it is pretentious, but yes, this is who I am," Werner nodded, still not sounding very friendly. "What is your point?"
"Well, my friend," Jemma began to understand that something was off here, but continued on - she didn't have the right sort of experience with this sort of thing. "Have you thought about being someone else, maybe?"
Across the multiverse, stories diverge here. In some universes, Bobbi's assessment of Werner is quite accurate; in these circumstances Werner responds to Jemma's suggestion and things begin to go in one direction, how S.H.I.E.L.D. (and Bobbi) would've liked them to go. In this universe, however, Werner doesn't respond to Jemma's suggestion, not at first. Instead, he puts his food down aside and goes back lying down.
"I'll finish later, if you don't mind," he spoke, not looking into Jemma's direction.
"Of course, of course," Jemma replied, half-relieved, but also half-upset, but not really surprised. "I'll come back to check on you later?"
"...You don't have to if you don't want to," Werner replied in this scenario. "And if you have to, then do so. Don't pretend otherwise - I'm not in the mood."
/
What happens to Werner after this depends on the initial divergence. If Jemma's friendly response to him is reciprocated in kind, then Jemma returns, alongside Bobbi, and usually Leo. In these circumstances, Jemma and Bobbi continue what Jemma had began, which is to say continue to bond with the young man, while Leo hovers in the background, doing his jealous/worried boyfriend routie, adding more authenticity to Bobbi's plan, and generally helping Jemma (and himself) win over a new friend, among other things, for the agency. This is the best case scenario, and across the multiverse it comes true in some of the universes.
However, in universes such as this one, Jemma doesn't return: Bobbi immmediately understands that things are not going according to her accessment, but still tries to salvage the situation, for reasons of her own. Sadly, she miscalculates worse than she assumes, and brings Thomas Ward with her. Even in best case scenarios, Thomas Ward and Werner don't become friends, the two are too different and too similar, and just rub each other wrong - and this scenario is nowhere near being the best...
"...Hi," Bobbi said brightly. "I'm Bobbi Morse; actually, my name is Barbara, but please, call me Bobbi or Bob instead." It's a good try, but now, with Thomas Ward around, her plan doesn't stand a chance.
"I know who you are," Werner replied as he shifted into a sitting position - and then he saw Thomas and got onto his feet and off the bed completely. "Who's that?"
"Hi," Thomas did his best to imitate the senior agent; under other circumstances, with another person, this would've been his true calling in S.H.I.E.L.D. BTW; but now. "I'm Thomas, Thomas Ward. I believe that my brother has done quite a number on you-"
"So you're the rat," Werner replied quietly, but with such venom that Thomas immediately fell silent, despite being the older one of the two. "I've met plenty of your kind before. Malick had surrounded me with them, who pretended to be my family, while selling me out to him. You've done the same thing to your brother - and as he had helped me get rid of them, so I will help him get rid of you when he comes back. Hopefully, it won't involve flaying you alive, I would rather do it quickly than slowly."
"My brother is dead and gone," Thomas growled. "You're a fool! You've been given an opportunity to become something better-"
"Shut up, just shut up," Werner literally spat in his face. "I could tolerate this from agent Morse, or even that agent Jemma woman, but you, rat? No, just no. Go back into the hole you came from."
"I like to see you try," Thomas put up his fists, and Werner took to the challenge by tearing into him not unlike how he had teared into Kebo. Thomas, however, is no Kebo and so Werner overpowers him quite quickly.
...As a matter of fact, things sometimes do diverge here, too. Sometimes, Leo and Jemma get involved in this fight, and things then go even worse, not just for Werner, but for the FitzSimmons, and even Bobbi - for everyone involved, really. But usually, Bobbi, with Lance's help, is able to rescue Thomas from Werner, even though von Strucker already does a number on him when they are pulled apart. "I only didn't kill you, because the boss man will be wanting to do you in himself," he told Thomas as a parting shot, and this time, Thomas didn't bother to deny that he didn't believe it.
/
Things get to be quite straightfoward after this - Werner and director Coulson meet. Sometimes, the multiverse being what it is, things go quite according to Bobbi's plan and strategy, in which case the meeting between the two men goes with them doing their best to impress each other: Coulson is at his most paternal and charming (whether it's real or not is another thing), while Werner is at his best behavior too (for the best of reasons). In these circumstances the outcome is very favorable, especially for S.H.I.E.L.D., as Werner is accepted by the agency, as a cadet slash junior agent (S.H.I.E.L.D. is still isn't back to what it was under Fury) and actually starts a new life, free from the legacy of his family's inheritance - but this takes a while.
Sometimes, if the scenario went the worst way around (and it can get very nasty, especially for the poor Leo Fitz), the two men meet very quickly; Werner is in restraints, and Coulson is flanked by May and Mack - just in case. In these circumstances, there is no discussion whatsoever, Coulson just glares in heavy disgust at the younger man, (and is somewhat unnerved by the fact that his disgust is matched evenly by the one in Werner's gaze), and leaves, sending Werner over to Talbot, in place of Grant Ward and Sunil Bakshi. This...doesn't go very well for S.H.I.E.L.D. or Talbot, and in the long run it costs Coulson his ally in the U.S. military, but what will be, will be.
Usually, though, Coulson confronts Werner in a cell. Werner may be somewhat worse for wear (Thomas is worse, though), but he is back to his stoic, almost emotionless self.
"Werner," Coulson is trying to salvage this situation, however unwillingly and reluctantly; he is actually still underestimating the young von Strucker, though he doesn't know it. "Let's be honest here. We tried to be nice to you, because we assumed that after physical abuse at hands of Grant, Kebo and the rest of Hydra this is what you need; apparently we were wrong-"
Werner never replies to this sort of query, so Coulson continues, pretending that he didn't expect some sort of a denial, a request to start things over from the younger man in the first place.
"In any case, we still are willing to offer you protection," Coulson continued. "On your own, you're no match for Malick-"
"I accept," Werner interrupted. "As long as it doesn't involve you screwing with my mind, I accept."
"Deal," Coulson is genuinely surprised by Werner's quick compliance on this account - he expected something more along sullen resentment or defiance, here. "And Mr. Werner? You're a bright young man, perhaps we got off on the wrong foot? Think about this while we are in protection detail, ok?"
"Mr. - I mean director Coulson? You are a good man," Werner's reply is not unlike Coulson's own statement. "You've just been dealt a bad hand. Good luck with whatever you're up to."
"Thank you," Coulson's reply was quite solemn and serious, and the two men part their ways for quite a while, as Coulson stays in the HQ, while Werner is off to a safe house, where he stays... for a while, until he is busted out of it, among smoke and hellfire. When the next time S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra face off (against a mutual, alien threat), Werner is right there, in the top ranks of Hydra, at Grant Ward's right hand.
End