Author Note:
If you love Skye or Coulson and can't bear any bad words towards them, this one is not for you. I can't stand how Coulson use double standard and he still thought he was the best guy in the world. I also hate how Skye can follow order blindly and thought Ward is an asshole by following Garrett blindly.
Please leave comments. Thanks.
Agent 33 helped Grant Ward escaped the HYDRA base. Her next destination was a local black market doctor. She could not let Grant Ward die, not until he taught her how to live like a free person. When she arrived, he already passed out due to loss of blood. The surgery lasted around 5 hours. During these 5 hours, she started to wonder why she helped him at the first place. He did offer help, but it could be his trick to get out the base. She then remembered the way he looked at her while offering the help. His eyes were too sincere to fake even for a seasoned spy. How he treated the Skye lady also demonstrated he was not a cold blood killer. By saving his life, he may should keep his promise. Even if he didn't, she would not lost much in this bet, not that she had much to lost either.
The doctor told her the surgery was a success, and he would live. Since the bullet penetrated the upper lobe of his right lung, the doctor had to take out that portion and it would reduce his lung function. The recovery might take about 6-8 weeks depending on his situation. She managed to persuade the doctor so they could stay there for that night, while she tried to find a safe house not too far away.
He stayed in coma for three more days after the surgery, which worried her a lot. He was the only one she could rely on now and she did not know what she might do if he died because of SHIELD too. Fortunately, he woke up at the 4th day. He was pale, but he recognized her and thanks her for saving his life, then he asked a simple but hard to answer question-'what is your name'. She wanted to say Agent 33, but she knew this was not answer he was looking for. She gave the honest answer-'I did not remember.' He seemed to be satisfied with this answer, because his smile warmed her heart. She never saw him smile during his whole HYDRA journey and did not know a seasoned spy could smile so comforting.
'We will find your name and everything about you together.' He said when he asked for the burner phone. She found it for him and watched him making a phone call to a mysterious hacker. After the phone call, he started to cough blood and could not breathe at the same time. She padded his back, trying to smooth his breath and comfort him. When all methods failed, she had to put oxygen mask on his face. 'Do not worry. I am hard to kill.' He must notice how panic she was. 'You can not die. I need you alive to tell me how to live free. If you die, I don't know what I will do to SHIELD. They abandoned me to HYDRA and killed Whitehall. If they also kill you, I have no one to live for. I…' She was ashamed how easy she broke down in front of Grant, but she really wanted Grant to know how important he was to her live. 'You should not live for me. Live for yourself. Although I do not know much about you yet, you are a good agent, it was not your fault to be abandoned or brainwashed. Once you get rid of the brainwash effect, you will live a purposeful life as a free agent or agent of SHIELD again.' She did not want to go back, because she already lost all the confidence that SHIELD would have her back. Depending on something that never showed up hurt more than depending on nothing.
Grant's situation deteriorated for next two days. He slid back into coma and also had an over 100F fever. The black market doctor suggested to find him a hospital, otherwise his situation would get worse much quicker and he might die within a few weeks. She was hesitated because Grant was still wanted and he could be captured or killed if SHIELD or HYDRA found him. She did not want any of these agencies found him in such weak state. The doctor suggested a small private hospital who accepted patient without asking any questions or doing any background check. After a little investigation, Agent 33 was confident that this hospital would not leak Grant's identify and he might have a proper treatment here. After being admitted to the hospital, Grant's situation stabilized but he was still in coma. Watching him getting paler everyday was a big suffering for Agent 33. This man was the first person who treated her with dignity and did not ask much in return. He even tried to stop her becoming puppy for him. Everybody else would gladly accept her loyalty and utilized her skills immediately. However she was soon to lose him; the only potential help in her life was dying because he tried to fulfill the promise to that Skye lady. She wanted to revenge for both people. If Grant died, she would make sure SHIELD paid for the torture Grant and she suffered, especially Coulson and that Skye lady.
After a week in the hospital, the doctor finally came to tell the news she already knew. It was highly like Grant would never wake up due to the internal bleeding and multiple organ failure. If his situation remained stable, he might live for another few months. However, if his situation got complicated, which was moderately possible, he could die in any second. Agent 33 felt her sky just cracked. Grant's phone started to ring, so she picked up the phone absent-minded. 'Hi, is this Agent 33? I found your identity information. I will send you the files now. How is Grant now?' 'Almost dead.' She hung up the phone and started to read the files. Her name was Kara Lynn Palama. She used to be a historian and Geek Mythology researcher. She was born in Miami and her parents were also former SHIELD agents who died in questionable operations. She cried the whole day for her parents, Grant and herself; for how SHIELD treated them like tools. SHIELD must pay for its sins. She then picked up the phone and asked the hacker to track every member of Coulson's team, especially the Skye lady. She wanted this lady to pay even more than she wanted Coulson to pay.
Another week passed and Grant was still living his life in coma. Kara had not given up the hope yet. She wanted Grant to be happy for at least once in his life. The hacker finally gave her a coordinate for Skye. This Skye lady seemed to be alone shopping in this super busy local farmers market. It was easier to drug her and took her away in the crowed area such as this market. It only took her a few seconds and a few lies to persuade people Skye was her patient and needed to go to hospital right now. She took Skye to an old abandoned house she once used as safe house and poured her a bucket full of ice water.
"Nice to see you again, agent Skye."
"Why are you doing this? We can help you agent 33."
"You sure can help me when you pointed the gun towards my head. No, your SHIELD never want to help me and you, almost killed the only one willing to help me."
"Grant Ward? He is a fucking bastard. He just used you to get out that base. He was a liar, serial killer and a god dammed traitor."
"This is the funniest accusation I have ever heard. Are you an idiot or a super naïve agent? Name me any specialist that are not a serial killer by definition. Even you killed people before. How can you accuse Grant a serial killer while all of you consider killing people a part of job description?"
"The liar accusation is even funnier. Have you been honest the whole life? I seems to remember you lied about your ex and the tie with that famous hacker organization. How dare you accuse him of liar when you are a great liar too?"
"The traitor accusation is just purely nonsense. If you actually listened, you would know Grant was never SHIELD. It was fair to say he was your enemy, but he was not a traitor. Will you said Mockingbird or your lovely scientist betray HYDRA because they went undercover in that organization?"
"Grant loves you and he went back to HYDRA only for you. He helped you meet your father which was your wishes and you rewarded him with 4 bullets. Should I be glad you did not kill him execution style? What a mercy act! You may be happy to know that he is in coma and probably never wake up until he die in a few months. You should smile, because you gave him a long and hurt death. He is a nice person indeed. He offered to help me. He declined my loyalty to him and emphasized I should only live for myself. He even managed to find me all my identification information. He once told me how he was manipulated by someone and now he finally broke out of the effects. He could teach me how to do it. But, YOU RUIN MY ONLY CHANCE!"
"Calm …down. You know, SHIELD has a lot of doctors, maybe we can help, too."
"No, you can't. None of you arrogant asshole will understand. If you do, Coulson would not abandon me and Grant would not be treated this way. I will not kill you, because Grant will want you alive. But you need to pay for your action. You shot him four times. I will taser you 4 times to let you experience his pain. You lost the chance to know what a great man he can be now."
Kara left Skye in that house and started search for Coulson. She never intended to kill Skye but she wanted Skye to suffer as Grant did. She was very satisfied to see Skye still had a little remorse and guilt left. She knew after today, this Skye girl might have another view regarding to Grant or SHIELD. Coulson was another story. She wanted him dead for everything he did to her. He was hard to capture too. Maybe she could utilize Skye's disappearance as a bargain chip to lure him out.
Coulson arrived at the location sooner than she expected, but she already finished setting up the trap. It was a good time to start this conversation now.
"Good morning Director Coulson. How is your team doing?"
"WHERE IS SKYE?"
"Don't worry. She is fine, maybe a little headache now."
"Give me her now and I will forgive you for this."
"In case you have not noticed, you do not have the upper hand here. Your team are trapped into their worst nightmare now. You can save them or save Skye. It is your choice."
"Or I can take you out. I will never leave any of my team suffer."
"That is the best joke I have heard in 5 years. Never leave any of your team suffer? How about me? You recruited me when I was 17 and just lost both parents. What did you say to me at that time? SHIELD would take care of you. Where were you when HYDRA brainwashed me? They brainwashed me for a whole week, one fucking week! If you had ever considered saving me, a week was more than enough for such an operation."
"We were so busy at that time and we did not have enough personal to execute such operation."
"Yet, you managed to bring the team to save this Skye lady. I know you, Coulson. If you want to save someone, you will do it even by yourself.
Why don't you just admit somebody is much more important to you than the rest of world and drop your I-will-save-everyone attitude?"
"I thought you were compromised."
"And you did not bother to even check. Is it really hard for moron like you to admit you are selfish and do things based on your interest only? You betrayed my trust and you also betray your own words"
"No, the situation prevented me from…"
"Shut the fuck up. Let's talk about Grant. You once said everyone deserved a second chance. Yes, everyone except Grant. You can help anyone who did not hurt your interest too much to get a second chance. But Grant could not have his second chance even if he tried so hard. You are really a hypocrite."
"He betrayed my team and killed Hand!"
"So you have never killed innocent people or gone undercover? You should never said everyone deserve second chance unless you can forgive people who hurt you. Grant is almost dead by now, so it is not like he will need to prove anything now. But I want you to pay for what you did to me and to Grant. Even Whitehall had better jail than him."
Although Kara wanted to kill Coulson, she could not force herself to do so. She shot Coulson 4 times in his left leg instead and terminated the traps for his team. They should recover within 2 hours. She then went back to the hospital and sit close to Grant's bed. She told him everything she said today and Grant was actually smiling. She stayed with Grant for the last two months of his life and gave him a proper burial ceremony. Skye somehow got the news, but Kara stopped her before she entered the cemetery.
"Please let me be there."
"So you can dig him out and left his body burnt by the sun? You killed him. What makes you think you can go in and mourn him? You already hurt him enough when he was alive. Why can't you leave him after he died? You are not welcomed here. I will never let you know where he is buried. Please leave now or I will force you to."
"Agent 33."
"Go Now!"
Kara did not know what she want to do, but she definitely did not want to stay in U.S. any more. She joined a volunteer organization and started to teach English in Africa. Finally she lives for herself only.
