"Grant, please just give me the hard drive. John will be coming soon and he will not hesitate to do whatever it takes to get the information," whispered Skye, a pleading glint in her eyes.
It was a lie. All of it was a lie between them. The bubbly ex-hacker turned good was just an act. Her gentle touches, caring smiles, and friendly quips. How could he have fallen for it? He was a damned level seven specialist trained by Clint Barton. He couldn't blame himself for not seeing that Hydra was deep cover within S.H.I.E.L.D. when even Clint, Tasha, or Fury couldn't. But what he did blame himself for was failing to see that Skye was a lie, a non-existent person. No, there was only Daisy Garrett, daughter of the Clairvoyant. He should have realized that their enemy wasn't a mind-reader. There was no such thing. The only possible way to get information was for John to have somebody undercover. And that somebody was Daisy.
"Barton, Coulson, and Nat will find me. And when they do, your organization is going to topple to the ground…Daisy," he sneered.
"Grant, please! You have to understand. I'm doing this for my family."
"We were your family!" he shouted, jerking at the handcuffs that restrained him to the Bus's railing.
The handgun in Daisy's hand quivered as she stepped forward. "Please, just give me the information. If you do, I can get my dad to back off. Grant, I can't lose you! Help me save you…please."
"Stop it," he whispered, lowering his gaze to the ground as his head slumped forward. "Stop acting like you care about me!"
He wouldn't fall for her tricks, not anymore. Those soft, pleading eyes wouldn't convince him to do what she wanted. He knew that the person he had loved and cherished was a fraud, that Daisy was not the same person as Skye.
It was all his fault, damn it! He should have realized that she was a fake. Maybe then he wouldn't have had to see Fitz and Simmons horrified expressions when they found Agent Koenig or May's empty gaze when Ian Quinn shot her two times in the stomach. And he certainly wouldn't have been captured by her while he was distracted.
"I do care about you, Grant. That wasn't a lie. Everything between us was true," she stated, kneeling down to caress his cheek.
He flinched away from her hand. He couldn't trust her touch anymore, could no longer find comfort in her arms. Most of all, he couldn't trust himself to not lower his guard even further.
"Please, we're running out of time," she coaxed.
Closing his eyes, he steeled himself for the next few moments. This had to be done. For FitzSimmons, the innocent, friendly, too trusting youths on the team. For Coulson, who was a father figure to everyone. For May, who had almost died at the hands of Hydra while Skye said nothing. For Clint and Natasha, whose entire lives were devoted to an organization that never truly existed in the first place. Slowly, he opened his eyes.
"No, Daisy," he said, his voice hardening. "It's you who's out of time."
Contorting his body, he popped the joints in his handcuffed hand out of place. The metal restraints clattered to the Bus's floor. He shot to his feet, punching Daisy in the stomach and twisting her wrist. She grunted in surprise as the gun left her hands and found its way into Ward's.
"Goodbye, Daisy."
Two shots discharged from the pistol and impaled themselves in Daisy's forehead.
AN: I loved writing this quick one-shot so much. I hope you guys and girls like it!