Agent Grant Ward strode through the Bus, walking towards his room. He decided to keep sleeping in his old room, while Deathlock slept in Coulson's. He hated seeing the other rooms empty right next to his. He hated thinking about what the lab will look like when a bunch of HYDRA scientists will work there in the following day, trying to make another dose of the miracle serum which brought Coulson back to life and kept Skye alive.

He hated the silence. The Bus used to be full of noise. Skye's music blasting from her room, May training in the training room, Coulson giving orders, an explosion now and then from the lab when Fitz-Simmons felt especially creative.

He hated that he had feelings about them all. That he was weak. He was so weak he hadn't been able to keep away from them. He shook his head as he opened the door. He hated himself for not realizing Phil wouldn't give up on Skye so easily. He had actually thought they left them to go with Skye after talking with Hill. He should have known better. They didn't leave any man behind.

Hydra does that

The nagging thought annoyed him further. He wasn't supposed to doubt Hydra. He wasn't supposed to doubt Garrett. But he did.

It didn't matter anyway. He was loyal to Garrett. The only one who saw him as something more than a weak, self-pitying psychopath. Without Garrett who knows where Ward would have been now? Definitely not in a luxurious plane with someone-or something as he wasn't sure Mike Peterson was still a person after what they did to him- something who would kill him in his sleep if given the order.

But wasn't Ward the same? He, too, would kill. Heck, he had killed countless of people. Garrett told him who he wanted dead, and good little Ward did all the dirty work. He was just like them. Just like all of them. Hydra, SHIELD, who cares? They're all a bunch of killers. Hill would have killed herself if Fury had asked her to. Not to mention Romanoff.

As he was trying to drift off to sleep, he heard something from the room next to his. Skye's room.

No, not Skye's room. It would never again be Skye's.

He slowly opened the door, brushing a hand over his face in an attempt to make any trace of sleep disappear and look around before opening Skye's door. He had already a gun in his hand, but he was so shocked at what he had found there that he didn't shoot.

'Hey there, Ward. Remember me?' a low, seductive voice that sent chills down his spine said. The voice belonged to a redhead woman. 'Probably not. You see, we haven't exactly met before. I'm Natasha Romanoff.' The Black Widow smiled evilly at the man.

Ward made a chocking sound before slowly taking a step back. This was going to end up with one of them dead or severely injured. And Ward knew it wasn't going to be Romanoff.

'You see, a friend of mine, Maria Hill, told me something interesting. Eye candy? Really? You almost beat my score and the best you could come up with was "eye candy"?' She raised an eyebrow at him, while Ward found it impossible to speak. He was in trouble.

'Ho-how did you even get here? The plane is thousands of meters in the air' he managed to say, looking a bit scared, but he suddenly remembered Deathlock was on the plane too. Sure Garrett wouldn't let Romanoff do anything. She wasn't with Hydra as far as he could tell.

'Doesn't matter. 'She said and leaped forward, raising her left foot high enough that it almost hit Ward in the back of his head. Romanoff was short, but damn, she sure didn't let that bother her.

Ward caught her leg just before it made impact with his head, but before he had any time to hit back, she jumped on his back, pinning him in a thigh-choke. Ward hit his back in a wall and managed to untangle himself from her. Ward didn't stay there anymore. He was good, yes, but she was better. He needed help. Ward also had an advantage. He knew the plane, while she didn't. At least he hoped she didn't.

He ran into a room he was sure didn't appear on the map of the plane she might have read before coming here. He locked the door. He looked around the tiny room, looking for something to announce Deathlock of their guest. There were only cupboards full of food as far as Ward could tell, but the plane had been SHIELD's, so there had to be something in case of emergency. He started to search through all the cupboards for anything that might help him, but when he opened the last cupboard, which was also the biggest, before he had time to defend himself, or to even realize what was happening, a figure jumped on him from there. The Black Widow.

'This is the plane Strike Team Delta used to work on, idiot. I know it better than any of you.' She said, not sounding at all out of breath as she kept hitting Ward. He was trying to defend himself, but while he was stronger, she was faster and more agile. And force didn't do much good with such little space.

'Where's Deathlock? How did you get past him?' Ward asked her after spitting two teeth and an impressive amount of blood.

They circled each other, neither striking as Natasha answered. 'Wasn't that hard, honestly. Now he's probably somewhere in the middle of the ocean' she finished and ripped a bar of metal from something on her right. Ward wasn't sure from what exactly, but the answer came after a whole cupboard fell.

Before Ward had any time to take something to strike back, Natasha hit him in the stomach. Ward chocked more blood and decided that at least two ribs were broken. Natasha only had a scratch on her forearm. Nowhere near deep enough to be classified as a problem.

While Ward was still down, she hit him on the back of his head hard and he collapsed. 'That was from Hill.'

She was just preparing to kill him off for good, when she heard Fury's voice on her comm.

'Romanoff, what do you think you are doing?'

'Nothing, sir.' She replied

'That sure didn't sound like nothing. Was that Ward? Don't tell me you are on the Bus. You get back here now.'

Natasha cursed herself for forgetting to switch off the microphone on her comm.

'In a minute, sir'

'Now! And don't even think about killing the bastard. Leave something for Agent May, too'

Natasha chuckled darkly, knowing exactly that if she left him alive, May would find many creative ways to torture the poor guy. So she left him there, turned around and left, but not before sending on her phone all recordings from the cameras on the Bus. She promised Maria and Pepper she would tell them about her little chat with Ward.