A fixit post 3.10 fic, sad but worth it and emptionally safe for everyone. Beware of spoilers.
AND DEATH FLIPPED A COIN
They realize it´s not really Ward soon enough, and that tiny bit of intel is the full extent of SHIELD´s progress in a long while. After the shock fades Skye runs searches on every face detection software known to man. She finds him again soon enough, but camera loses sight in a busy crowd. The third time is the charm. The team assembles, Coulson is livid but assures everyone that it´s totally impossible for Ward to have survived the wounds he received in their fight. He hasn´t taken back the Director´s mantle yet, and he doesn´t say another word during the entire meeting. It´s up to Skye to tell everyone to be quite careful. Whatever that thing is, it doesn't look like it´s trying to hide.
They gather every weapon SHIELD has, they corner it, and the freak deaths start. An accidental explosion, a heart attack, an agent going mad and shooting at his own backup. In the next weeks, the pattern repeats itself several times. They plan, they come, they try, and yet the ways they lose people seem infinite.
They hunt it restlessly, feverish in their fear that any day now an epidemic of biblical proportions will be unleashed on a major city. There was a reason this Inhuman had been banished to a deserted world, and worshipped by Hydra. The power of that thing is infinite, arcane, and whispers of an evil God that cannot be controlled expand among SHIELD ranks. They call it Death.
The fact that Death still wears Grant Ward's face is quite unnerving. They have already figured out that it possesses whoever it pleases – they see it happen on occasion. It never lasts too long, and when dust settles the not-Ward is back traveling the globe, appearing on CCTV cameras like he doesn't give a damn some times, yet avoiding them stealthily some others. They all start to suspect that Ward´s specialist knowledge is still there – an easy guess after the thing uses an identification that had belonged to their real Ward. Further investigation into how this works reveals that Death rarely uses combat moves, and whatever experience Ward´s memories provide seem to be more strategic and cultural in nature. Languages. Ways to travel in the modern world. Ways to get money.
Coulson decides to leave the base. He killed Ward, he curtly explains, and he now fears that this fact can make the creature come calling. He and Fitz share a long look as the latter makes the fitting for a new hand, and then Coulson´s gone.
"This is not running, this is strategy", May says, but it´s exactly that. Death never comes for SHIELD, and shows no interest in avenging the original owner of its body. It definitely recognizes them, though. It speaks with Ward´s voice, and casually calls them by their names, and all in all the way it carries itself is like it´s heard so much about them, and now that it has finally met them they are somehow lacking. Prosaic, compared to the image in its head.
Whatever. Skye has no time to dwell on it. The truly important thing is, whenever they find it and go after it, their people die.
She gets another CCTV recognition alert. This time Coulson´s unreachable, Mack´s injured by friendly fire from their last mission, Joey´s pretty useless since Death doesn´t carry firearms or blades and Lincoln´s gone. He´d never forgiven SHIELD for not destroying the portal immediately when they had a chance.
"You did this," he says to her and Coulson before going. "These deaths, and everything that´s yet to come, it´s all on you. You wanted so much to get a win over Hydra, that in the end you surpassed it by far."
The words burn, bright and truthful, and Skye cries herself to sleep that night. She wants to solve this. Save her world. Wakes every midnight and checks her feeds, and sure enough there is footage of it entering a building. Her heart skips a beat at seeing the overhead sign. It´s a children´s hospital.
She doesn't take anyone with her. It´s pointless. All force is pointless. No weapon works on something that can instantly heal itself, and the anti inhuman field fails since this particular Inhuman possesses genetically normal people and doesn´t seem to have a body of its own.
She goes alone. It´s 3 am, the basement where the creature headed is silent. The security guard near the morgue entrance is fast asleep behind his counter, his chest heaving reassuringly. He isn´t dead at least. Steps break the silence. Skye looks up to see the figure going through a door. It has his haircut, his stubble, his face and almost identical choice in clothes, but close up, there are striking differences with Ward. For a guy she´d once nicknamed Robot, he sure had plenty of facial expressions to choose from. Not-Ward´s face is… She struggles to find the word. Empty is usually used to describe zombies, but it isn´t it. This creature´s not empty. It´s serene.
Ward had never been serene. Not undercover with the team, not in the Vault, not working for Hydra. Even playing pretend to the best of his ability, he still secretly was full of… something. Hope, anger, desperation, pain… She doesn´t know what anymore, she only knows that Ward never knew peace in his life.
This creature is peaceful. Untroubled. It walks towards her, and Skye notices that it is cradling a dead infant´s body.
"You are monster," she manages, all but forgetting that she´d planned to avoid conflict inside a hospital. It´s only wishful thinking at this point, but Death had never harmed her, and maybe – maybe she can use this to her advantage.
"Am I?" the creature says. It cracks its neck, a gesture Ward never made himself, and to see the body she knew so well perform an unfamiliar tick is distracting. "Ironic that you´d use that word, considering that humans probably called you that same thing the moment that you turned."
"I´m not like you."
"What is the difference?"
She knows the answer. She´d learned it the hard way. It´s not the powers that define you, it´s what you choose to do with them.
"I don't kill," she says, voice trembling. "I don´t kill newborns."
"She was born dead," it responds calmly. "And now it´ll be reborn alive."
She doesn´t process this for a long moment, wondering why would this thing want to instill life instead of taking it. Then she understands the plan.
"Possessed by you? That´s sick."
"A less emotionally charged word would be reincarnation."
"I thought you rather liked your present host," she drolls, because this has quite quickly become surreal and she´s mouthy when she´s this scared.
"Oh, I do," Death says. "I could not wish for a better guide back into this world. I needed to adapt and gather my bearings, and he was resourceful, knowledgeable, and had excellent survival skills. It´s been a blessing. But now that I´m here… The lens he saw the world through is becoming a bit tiring, you know."
"Good as a survival expert, bad as a tourist guide?"
"Exactly," Death says and suddenly it smiles. "You´re a funny person. It´s strange, his memories keep telling me that, but I have never seen it until now."
"I don´t laugh when on a mission."
"And I´m your mission. May I inquire why?"
"Your power it to kill and possess people. You´re the ultimate evil!"
It sighs. Actually sighs, slowly and somewhat theatrically, and the gesture takes Skye back to when her Ward would sigh patiently at her training antiques.
"Millennia pass, yet people are still struggling with the fact of death. Death isn´t good or evil, little girl. Death, simply, is. It can be timely or not. It can be calm or sad. May be a tragedy, may be a blessing. I´ve lived a hundred lives, and most of them were longer than yours, child. I´ve lived as a slave worker, a pregnant woman, and a tribe chieftain. I´ve died calmly of old age and painfully of every disease known to man, of happiness and grief, by sinners´ hands and by saints´ mercy. Death and rebirth are tied together, just as good and evil are. Two sides of the same coin. Or did you think it was a modern saying?"
"Yet you've killed…"
"These who have attacked me. Yes. Wouldn't you? Your SHIELD keeps pursuing me all over the world. Why? Have I been out of line, unruly, or excessive? Because I could have been. Oh, but I could have been. You claim to be this world´s defense against all evil things, but all you do is lock away anything you don´t agree with, or cannot understand or control. You never think about what will happen if… when… one of your tormented prisoners succeeds in getting free? My vessel showed you that, sadly. Yet you still didn´t learn a thing."
Well, damn. Damn. Damn. Knowing that Death has Ward´s skills is one thing, but realizing that it also emphasizes with him changes the entire game. This creature thinks that its time on the sandy planet and Ward´s time as prisoner of SHIELD are similar. Wow. They were indeed lucky that no unholy plagues had yet been unleashed upon the world.
Skye shakes her head. It´s a good thing she´d come alone, then. A good thing that they can talk. She must diffuse this situation.
"It´s not like that", she begins fiercely. "He dug his own grave."
"… all his life, yes, gleefully helped along by every single person he´d ever loved. That´s not a thing to hiss about, child. That is a thing to mourn. The makings of a good Greek tragedy. He didn´t walk the path of war because he wanted to. He walked it because he´d never been allowed onto the one that lead to peace. I understand why he´d hope that paying others back in anguish would help him mute his own, for it´s a path I have long dreamed of taking. I´ve seen him walk this path. I´ve seen his devastation when it didn´t work, when nothing worked, when it became too late. Yet you should know, oh little naïve rookie, that even dying as he did, alone and hopeless and broken, he didn´t blame anyone except himself. Be thankful to him, for his lesson taught me enough to spare you all."
"And now you want to leave him for a newborn child."
"I´ve had enough of death and anguish. I want to experience living. A clean slate. You and your SHIELD will be quite wise to leave me be," it smiles. "Tracing this child´s whereabouts or interfering in her life might just unleash a ghastly pest the likes of which haven´t been seen in centuries."
He… It… A future she… Leaves the listless child on the security counter, still wrapped in a tiny hospital blanket. The night guard stirs, but doesn´t wake up. Skye thinks about all the ways she could establish the newborn´s identity. Then thinks about the future of the girl and her unlucky parents. About what knowing the whole truth would mean to them, and on second thought decides that maybe she shouldn´t even try. Maybe this centuries old, nearly all powerful entity does indeed know better.
She nods, feeling lightheaded and very daring, for all that she´s in grave danger right now. She´s so deep in things she doesn't understand, she feels like she´s once again the hayseed little rookie mouthing off to Ian Quinn.
"I´ll spare you the trouble of the pest for a much simpler bargain."
Death laughs.
"He liked you a lot, and weirdly so do I. Clever and fearless, and yet compassionate when you allow yourself to be. You want his body back, right? We have a deal, you can have it."
"And his soul," Skye counters immediately. "You´ll leave his dead body behind anyway, that´s not even a bargain to you."
SHIELD might call this creature Death, but she´s fairly certain other cultures used to call it Devil. Powerful yet easily bored, whimsical and droll. And a Devil´s bargain is never a straightforward thing.
"There is no such a thing as soul, it doesn't work like that. What you desire is for him to be alive and be himself."
"Yes."
"No. The man you wish to have back didn´t die on Maveth. He´d been gone for a long time at that time."
"How do you know?"
"Because I´ve seen and felt him go through every breaking point. He had had many, and managed to pull himself back from the brink many times… Until one day, he couldn't anymore. Bringing him back with memories of having his chest cavity slowly and viciously crushed while bound and defenseless won´t break the cycle."
Skye feels sick. Coulson said he´d killed Ward often enough, but never how. She had assumed a bullet, pictured a lucky shot well from afar hitting in a vital place. Upon Coulson´s insistence that Ward was very, very dead, she had suspected that he´d done it with a headshot. That thought… She hadn´t liked it. They weren´t executioners. SHIELD had been founded to help people, once upon a time.
"What was it?" She says.
"His prosthetic hand," the creature says and helpfully illustrates the gesture. "It went so deep inside, he couldn't get it out and had to leave it there."
It looks amused at her tears and the knowledge that this isn´t at all what she´s been asking. This creature has never physically acted against Coulson as he feared, but it sure just completed the most exquisite vengeance against him on Ward´s behalf.
"What was his breaking point?" She clarifies quietly.
"You don´t know? It figures, it was a pretty low-key one," Death baits her gleefully and cracks its neck before announcing in a theatrical whisper. "The worst ones always are."
"What was it?!" Skye screams.
"The audacity, my oh my…" Death drawls in delight. The whimsical side of it is fully out to play. An inquisitive, bright and cruel child watching a butterfly pinned under the magnifying glass and readying a scalpel. "Make no mistake, I might indulge our conversation, and I might spare Earth, and I might even let Grant go alive and with his memories intact… Or not intact… I wonder what he´d prefer? He´s been so goddamn helpful, I'm not completely averse to pay him back in kind… But where´d be the fun? And where´d be the test that´d show me that this time you all are ready?"
"Please…"
"Well, yeah, all right, it´s getting boring, let´s flip a coin."
Skye could cry, if only she weren´t already crying. Death doesn´t wait for confirmation and just winks at her. Ward´s right hand comes up as if to execute the throw, but there is no coin in it. He turns the palm towards the light awkwardly, and his sleeve rises up a little and shows the delicate skin of his wrist.
"The first pair of pants they gave me had a button on the back," he says. His voice is different now. Low and hoarse with shame. "They took that away, but if you fold a paper certain way…" Left hand comes up. The wrist area is also clean, since this infernal overhaul had seemingly returned Ward´s body to its original untarnished state, but Skye knows what he´s showing her. "After that I started running at the walls…"
He trails off now, just as he did then. This is her move. The coin is spinning, and the side it´ll land on is on her.
"You should have run faster," she mutters quietly as words from long ago echo in her mind. The coin drops. When she looks up, Death´s solemn eyes greet hers, and it dawns on Skye that she´s failed the test. The creature, still wearing Ward´s face, shakes its head sadly and walks away. It´s the very last thing Skye sees before the ultimate darkness claims her.
"I´m sorry for this. Nobody deserves it", she whispers through a closed throat. The coin drops. When she looks up, Grant´s lost expression greets her. The hope that colors his expression is an understated tiny thing, and Skye thinks sadly that Death had it completely right: the worst breaks are the quiet ones.
"It´s all right," she tells him before he starts to panic at the realization he´s neither in Vault D nor wearing his prison scrubs. Or worse yet - comes to fear that in absence of his scars she will immediately brand him as a liar and walk away. She´s done it to him once already, after all.
"What happened?" he manages, and she can see him scan the corridor for threats and exit paths. It´s a goddamn reflex drilled into him. No wonder even Death came to find him exhausting.
A lot of things, she thinks. Too many to recount. Turn after turn, blame after blame, until the humans were silenced and only monsters were left.
"We screwed up," she says. "All of us. But now we have a chance to do it better."
Behind them, a newborn baby starts to scream.
Author´s Note:
My dear Jeff Bell, Jed Whedon and Mo Taecharon. How does it feel to know that the entirety of your malicious 1.5 years long retcon and character assesination can be fixed in only 3K words by any fan across the globe? Does the fact that our love for Grant Ward will vastly outlive the TV run of your shit show keep you up at night? You have put so many thoughts, energies and episodes into destroying him, and yet people still believed in him. And so you capped off your childish hissyfit by killing him and selling out his body.
And you know what? I would like to thank you for being so so stupid. You can´t kill an idea, you sad hacks. It´s already out there. Grant Ward deserved better, but he belongs to his fans now. And we´ll make sure to keep him alive with us forever.