Demons
by Apple Blossom
Disclaimer: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D belongs to Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Stan Lee, ABC, Marvel Television, Mutant Enemy, and anyone else who wants to lay claim to it.
This story contains spoilers through SOS.
The monitor blinks once before the picture comes in showing me the dark tunnel, tracks leading out of the blackness. After months of building Hydra back up, getting the right people in the right positions, and quietly getting our research and development team up and running, we are ready to come out of the shadows once again. S.H.I.E.L.D. thinks they've defeated us - defeated me - but soon they will know the truth, and there will be no peace until the people who hurt me, who killed Kara, have been punished. Until I have closure with this portion of my past, calmed the demons that haunt me, and I will settle for no less than S.H.I.E.L.D. completely dismantled with everyone who serves Phil Coulson dead. The bait has been thrown out. A gifted individual, enhanced with Extremis, has been wreaking havoc in Chicago and has disappeared into one of the underground tunnels used by the Chicago Transit Authority. Transportation is at a standstill with one of the trains on the red line stopped completely, my man inside, and S.H.I.E.L.D has been called in to capture him. Little do they know that Hydra forces are lying in wait, ready to slaughter them at my command. I'm hoping Coulson sends in Melinda May first. She is the reason that Kara is dead and I plan on personally repaying the favor, slow and painfully.
Footsteps echo through the concrete chamber and I know they are near. My heart pounds a little faster in anticipation, waiting to see who Coulson sent on this mission. Several figures creep out of the shadows and while I knew it was a possibility, I find myself staring at the girl who shot me. The one who haunts my dreams even more than Kara. I watch for several moments as she surveys the scene and hands out orders with ease. This is not the same young hacker we dragged onto the bus, hood over her head, cocky yet scared so long ago. Gone is the girl who said bang every time she pulled the trigger. The one who never wanted to do a pull-up and hated weapons training. There is a confidence about her that has only increased since I last saw her - and her newfound powers - in the arctic Hydra base.
Reaching for the microphone I tell my team, "Ice their leader and kill the rest."
The battle lasts longer than I expect, Skye using her powers to knock the first wave of my team off their feet, shooting the ones that don't fall. Too late I realize that her comrades are powered people as well but before I can recall my order that my team ice them all, they are dead and Skye lays on the ground, the blue dendrotoxin snaking across her face before fading away.
Days pass and I stare through the glass as Skye lays asleep on a cot which is probably about as comfortable as the one they let me have when S.H.I.E.L.D held me prisoner. The doctors have kept her sedated until they could come up with a way to keep her powers under control and now they are fitting her with suppression gloves, locking them around her wrists with titanium alloy cuffs. Once this is done it will be time to wake her and I find that I'm more than a little nervous about seeing her face to face. One of the doctors injects something into her skin and then they leave the room, not anxious to see whether or not their new toy works. She wakes slowly, a slight whimper escaping her lips as she moves her head and I realize she probably has a headache from when my team iced her. Her eyes flutter open and she glances around quickly before sitting up, grabbing her head with her hands before pulling them away and looking at the gloves encasing her fingers, trapping her powers inside. I watch fascinated as she moves her hands around, surveying every last point of the suppression gloves, obviously looking for weaknesses in the fabric or the cuffs. Finally she looks up and sees the mirror in front of her, reflecting back her disheveled appearance. Slowly she runs her fingers through her much shorter chin-length hair, combing down several errant strands before standing, deliberately staring directly at me, as if she can see right through the mirror. My heart beats a cadence as she approaches, and soon we are only inches apart. If she knows it is me - and how could she know, I wonder - Skye never lets on as she takes a deep breath and says defiantly, "You can quit with the cloak and dagger crap anytime now."
Shaking my head, I can't help the laugh that escapes me and she must hear it as she steps back from the mirror, startled. Her eyes remain defiant, but have turned toward the door, waiting to see if someone will come in. Skye walks toward the door and pulls on the handle, not surprised to find it locked and she turns back to the mirror again and yells, "I know you're there."
Frustrated, she walks away, turning her back on me and pacing the room until finally I decide it is time to talk to her. I key in the code to the door and as it clicks open she turns quickly toward the sound.
"Hey Skye," I say as I enter the room, smiling despite the fact that the last time we saw each other she was still happy she'd shot me. There is something about her that always gets under my skin and this time it is no different. Even as her eyes flash with fear and then anger I feel that pull toward her that always happens when she is near me.
"Stay away from me," she snaps as she backs up slowly, not stopping until her back hits the farthest wall from me.
My hands come up automatically, desperate as always to show her I'm not a threat. At least not to her, as I reply, "It's been a long time."
"Not long enough," she replies, her eyes full of fire as they glance past me and I can tell already that she's calculating her chances of making it past me and out to freedom.
"Look Skye," I answer. "I know you're mad that I took you to Puerto Rico. But you needed to know the truth... and your father was looking for you."
"You kidnapped me at gunpoint!" Skye snaps angrily. "Delivered me right into the hands of the man who tortured and butchered my mother alive!"
"I didn't think..." I start to reply but she angrily cuts me off.
"That's right!" Her voice is trembling with fury and I find I'm glad she has those suppression gloves on. "You never think! You betrayed us! We were a team and you threw that all away for a psychopath. For Garrett!"
She says his name with utter revulsion before taking a breath and continuing on her tirade. "You let him shoot me!"
"I didn't," I reply, trying to defend myself, at least from this. "I would never have let that happen to you."
"I almost died," she growls at me, the words venomous as her eyes water just slightly, but I know Skye will never let me see her cry. Not now.
"I know," I whisper, ashamed at my part in all of that. "I'm sorry."
"You tried to kill May."
The hair on the back of my neck bristles at her name. I will kill her one day. I feel my face hardening, my body shutting down. May is the reason that Kara is dead. She deserves to die.
"You tortured Bobbi and almost killed her," Skye adds, glaring at me intently. "You are a sick, twisted, evil man. If you're going to kill me, get it over with already."
My heart sinks at her words and rage explodes within, inflating like a balloon inside my chest, and for a moment I truly think about it. Her death would destroy Coulson, and wouldn't that be the perfect revenge? Doing to him what his team did to me. My hands clench into hard fists, my fingernails digging deep into my palms but she just stands there so defiantly, ready to give her life to the cause. I take an involuntary step toward her and then stop, turning back toward the door, reaching for the handle. I need to get away from her before I do something that I'll regret forever.
She lays on the cot, her eyes closed, breathing deeply in, then out, when I bring her lunch. For a moment I think she is asleep and I can't help but stare at her. So much has changed and yet my feelings for her are still there. It doesn't matter that she shot me. That she hates me. For some reason I still love her.
"Don't you have lackeys to do that?" she asks quietly, not bothering to open her eyes.
"What?" I ask, startled out of my thoughts by her soft question.
"Lackeys. Minions. You know. Peeps that do your evil bidding."
"Henchmen?" I ask, a smile playing across my lips, but she only sits up, stone-faced and not amused. A small table with a single chair has been set up on one side of the room so I set the tray down before backing up toward the door. For a moment I wonder if she will ignore the food - ignore me - but finally she gets up and approaches the table, grabbing the tray in her gloved hands. She returns to the bed, settling on it cross-legged with her back against the wall. The tray balances on one knee and she picks up the sandwich, looking it over, no doubt worried I've poisoned it or something. Once she decides it is safe she takes a bite and as she chews I ask, "So what's the deal with your powers?"
Skye shrugs but says nothing and I wait in silence until she starts on the second half of the sandwich. "How about your Dad?"
Another shrug.
"It's not like I can't find out," I bait her.
"Go ahead and try," she answers flippantly, but I can see I've gotten under her skin. Her eyes water ever so slightly and her lips press together for one anxious moment before she adds, "Let me know what you find out."
I nod. "I'll do that."
Skye drops the rest of her sandwich on the tray and sets it on the bed beside her. "Don't you have better things to do? Kick puppies? Kidnap babies?"
"What's an Inhuman?" All the sass slips right off her face for one brief moment before the mask slides back in, shutting me out. "Hydra's got hackers too."
"I thought you weren't loyal to Hydra." She tosses my own words back at me and I nod ever so slightly.
"I wasn't. But my old team didn't want me back so I went looking for Hydra... and imagine my surprise when I found out a head hadn't grown back. Opportunity knocks, Skye. I answered."
"You're the head of Hydra?" she asks, her voice filled with doubt, almost mocking me.
"Yep," I answer, nodding in affirmation. "But guess what, Skye. You know someone else on my team too."
She shakes her head slightly as if there is no one else she could possibly believe would be Hydra.
"Someone you knew very well," I add. "And he wasn't too happy that you sold him out to S.H.I.E.L.D. and left him stranded in China."
"Miles?" Her eyes widen as she realizes who I'm talking about and the slightest shake of her head says she doesn't believe me.
"I knew I needed somebody better than you to break into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s computers. He was more than happy to oblige."
Skye shakes her head harder this time. "Miles wouldn't willingly help you. You stand for everything he's against."
"Well not everything," I remind her. "Money is one of many great incentives."
The word rubs her the wrong way and I know she's figured it out. "What are the others?"
"Others?" I feign, wanting to drag it out just a little longer. If I thought she hated me before, I know she will utterly despise me once she knows what I've done.
"Incentives," Skye snaps, clearly angry with me, her eyes reflecting the slow burn she is doing on the inside. Her hands clutch into fists as if she could will the suppression gloves off, but they are still securely fastened, and I see her whole body tense in anticipation of my answer.
"You're the incentive of course," I reply finally. "He does want I want and I don't kill you. He's still in love with you, you know."
"You bastard," she yells, the tray flying off of her lap as she is on her feet, rushing toward me before I even realize she's coming. Skye gets in one good blow, her fist connecting hard with my jaw and the sting of it spreads across my face. Dodging her other fist I make a grab for her wrist, holding on tight but she knows all of my moves and has obviously learned more from May as she twists out of my grip and knees me in the groin. An agonizing groan escapes my lips as I go down hard on my knees, desperate to keep my wits about me as I see stars. I don't want to hurt her but she's sidestepping me, heading for the door and I can't let her go. My hand snakes out, gripping her ankle and pulling hard and a moment later she is on the ground beside me, turning and kicking out, landing a glancing blow across my nose.
"Dammit Skye," I snap, moving quickly toward her and pinning her with my weight. She struggles to break free as I force her onto her stomach, pulling one arm back behind her, wrestling it still until I can get the other one as well. The cuffs on the suppression gloves have a link for chains but I had hoped not to use them. As she bucks underneath me I reach into my back pocket and pull a few zip ties out, threading them through the holes and securing them in place. All the fight goes out of her as I drag her back to the cot and shove her on it before reaching for her discarded napkin, holding it against my bleeding nose. Skye glares angrily at me for a moment before leaning her head against the wall and closing her eyes.
"I can't believe you're doing this," she whispers, still not looking at me. "Coulson tried to give you a chance. He brought you back. You could have rejoined S.H.I.E.L.D."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. killed Kara!" I explode, unable to contain my fury - or my guilt - over the loss of the one person who truly understood and accepted me for who I am.
"You killed Kara," Skye snaps back, her voice low but purposeful, her eyes flashing open, meeting mine. "While trying to kill Hunter because you couldn't get any satisfaction out of torturing Bobbi, for something that she didn't do maliciously or with the intent to get Kara captured and brainwashed. Kara was messed up by Bakshi and Whitehall. By Hydra. She was murdered by you. You need to stop blaming everybody else and start taking responsibility for your own actions."
Rage burns inside me and I know I need to get away from her before I do something stupid. The door is beside me and I grab the handle, pulling on it and hurrying through the opening, yanking it closed behind me. Slowly I walk back toward my office, breathing deeply - in then out - as I try to regain my composure. As I settle into the chair at my desk I notice that a new file has been uploaded for me so I click it with interest. It is video from the feed in the tunnel and I watch with interest as Coulson, May and some other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents check for survivors. Finding none I see them looking around and hear Coulson's voice clearly, "Where is she?"
I can't bring myself to go back and see her yet so I spend some time reviewing the video feeds from when my team captured Skye, fascinated by the group she was with. They were all powered people and I wonder if they are like her or something else. I've been reviewing the stolen Index listing but something is not right.
"Miles," I call out after pressing a button on the speaker phone in the room. "Can you come to my office."
"Yes Sir," he replies and I lean back in my chair staring out the window toward Lake Michigan. The view is spectacular on such a warm and sunny day with sailboats cruising along the shoreline, whitecaps sliding gracefully under them. I watch the people moving about on the street, noting with ease which are the locals and which are the tourists, mainly from the speed at which they move along the sidewalk. Those in a hurry live here, most likely heading to or from work. The ones that are slowly moving up the street, dodging people in suits and looking up in awe at the amazing Chicago skyline are obviously visiting. A knock on my door announces Miles' arrival and I call for him to enter.
"I'm curious about something," I tell him.
"Yes Sir?" he asks politely.
"What was the state of the Index file when you found it on the S.H.I.E.L.D. server?
"I'm sorry?"
He doesn't understand what I'm asking so I explain further. "It seems that there is data missing from this file. Is it complete?"
"It should be. The file itself had been deleted from the server but I was still able to recover it in its entirety."
"Deleted?" This answer surprises me.
"Yes," he confirms. "Skye obviously took extreme steps to destroy the data but since I taught her everything she knows..."
Miles' voice trails off as if he is afraid he is betraying her. It's a concern that he's expressed more than once but right now I don't care about that. "Why would they delete it? Is there something new?"
"Only the file I can't hack," he tells me and I look at him curiously. "The great Miles Lydon can't hack a file?"
"She has it geo-locked. That's when..."
"I know what it is," I interrupt, thinking back to the hard drive from the Bus when Hydra finally exposed themselves. It took Deathlok almost killing me for Skye to reveal how to unlock it for Garrett. She despised me then but still saved my life. I'm continually turning these facts over and over in my head. She could have let Mike Peterson kill me then but didn't. She could have killed me in Puerto Rico when she shot me, but didn't. Finally I decide to go see her once more. One of the guards - or lackeys as Skye likes to call them - has uncoupled the cuffs so she has free use of her hands once more. She's staring at the gloves, still working out whether or not she can get them off somehow, when I open the door. Disgust etches deeply into her face as she sees me but I ignore the look and shut the door softly, leaning against it as I ask, "What happened to the Index?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," she answers.
"Miles said it was destroyed. He was able to piece it back together." Skye says nothing, just stares at me, waiting to see what I'll do next, I guess. I wait for a moment before adding, "Your powers? You caused the earthquake in Puerto Rico?"
Her face gives away nothing and I almost want to applaud her. She really has turned into an incredible S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and if there is any way I could get her to change sides, I know we would work well together. My thoughts flicker to a dark place as I know there is only one way to get her to betray Coulson and I don't know if I could do that to her. Sighing softly, I run my fingers through my hair and ask, "You got them in the tunnel? The underground city that Whitehall was drilling into?"
She's trying, desperate not to react as I continue to push the point home so I add, "I heard Trip was killed in there."
Skye looks away from me then, glancing down to the floor as she pushes aside the guilt that is clearly reflecting on her face. She blames herself. Whatever happened down there, Skye thinks it was her fault and I feel bad for bringing it up now, so I add, "I'm sorry."
The silence is deafening. Me asking questions. Waiting for answers that won't come. I want to ask her about her team, but suddenly I don't want her to know that I had them all killed. I feel guilty about it and I don't want to feel that way at all so I reach for the door handle and leave, not even bothering to glance back through the one way mirror on my way out of the cell block.
Hours later, after going several rounds with a punching bag, I'm back in my office again when an alarm sounds briefly and then dies down. It's from the security guard at the main entrance to the high rise office building and my eyes instantly go to the monitors, quickly scanning for anything unusual. It's late for someone to be coming into the office for the evening, although several of my researchers are workaholics and stay all hours of the night.
"Can I help you?" the guard asks and I see extra security approaching the desk as well as the object of their concern when he comes into view. To say he is huge would be an understatement to say the least. He is shirtless and I can't imagine any shirt large enough to cover the enormous muscles and thick neck of the monster standing in the foyer, his red eyes glaring angrily at the main guard. Thick black hair spikes away from his face and he is just as frightening on the monitor as I can only imagine he is in person.
"I am Lash of Orollan," he growls menacingly. "I am looking for the abomination."
"The what?" The guards are standing now, hands on their weapons.
"The Inhuman who went through the mist without permission. She is an abomination and must be put down."
"Does he mean Skye?" Miles asks and I jump involuntarily, not having realized he had entered the office. I nod, watching with rapt attention as the guards first ask him to leave and raise their weapons when he does not. The monster - Lash - raises his hands and blue electricity seems to emit from them, disintegrating first the guns and then the guards.
"Holy..." Miles' voice trails off, his face twisted in horror. On the monitor Lash seems to look right at us, his hands going to the desk in front of him and the blue electricity engulfs it like nothing. The grin on his face is frightening as he moves to one of the columns supporting the mezzanine. Flames erupt around the plaster and a moment later he lifts his leg and a well placed sidekick brings the flaming support to the ground with a thunderous crash.
Lash stares into the camera, his voice low. "Bring me the abomination or I'll bring down the building."
"Get out of here," I tell Miles as I set off the silent alarm letting any of the employees left in the building know that now is the time to evacuate.
"What about Skye?" he asks, his eyes filled with concern for his former love.
"I'll get her out," I assure him. "Now go before this thing kills us all."
He nods and a moment later is gone. I take a minute to grab a set of keys from my desk drawer and soon my feet are pounding the tile floor as I hurry past a few fleeing employees. My hands fumble with the keys, my fingers clumsy as I unlock the door to the wing holding Skye's cell and rush through the observation room toward the panel that separates us. Slamming my hand down on the reader, I wait impatiently as it scans every nook and cranny of my palm before the lock clicks open and I pull on the handle, desperate to free her from her cage. One more door stands between us and I quickly key the code in, yanking on the handle and pulling it open. Skye is sleeping when I burst through the door, her short dark hair spiking wildly, her eyes wide as she sits up, startled. My eyes must reflect the fear that surges inside me, rolling like a wave into the shoreline and she knows instantly that something is wrong. "What is it?"
"Something," I say, because there is no other word to accurately describe what I need to tell her. "Is looking for you. We need to go."
Either the fear in my eyes or the concern in my voice must convince Skye that I'm telling the truth because she gets up immediately and follows me out of the room. The lights flicker just as we get to the stairwell and we are plunged into darkness as the door shuts behind us. Emergency lights activate and it is just enough for us to see a few of the stairs in front of us as we make our way downwards.
"What did you mean by something?" Skye asks as she sticks close behind me. We are about half way down the building and for once I am cursing the fact that we set up headquarters in a skyscraper.
"He's big and scary and not human," I answer. Stopping for a moment I glance back at her and say, "I think he's... like you. He said you were an abomination."
"I've heard that before. Was he blue?" she asks and at first I think she's kidding but in the pale light I see she is frightened.
"No," I reply. "But he... Well, he shot blue electricity from his hands."
I realize that anyone else hearing those words come out of my mouth might doubt me, but Skye just nods and pushes me gently, urging me down the stairs once more. As we get closer to the ground the building begins to shake and the stairwell brightens as blue shards of lightning snake their way up the railings. We make it to the first floor but the crackling of electricity sizzles through the air and instinctively I know the demon is on the other side of the door. Grabbing Skye's hand I pull her toward the basement, yanking the keys from my pocket once more.
"There's an emergency exit this way," I tell her but just as I'm about to place the key in the lock, the door is surrounded by electricity.
"Let me," Skye says and I look at her skeptically until she holds up her hands with the suppression gloves still intact. Ideally they will deflect the charge so I step back, handing her the key. I watch with trepidation as she slips it into the lock, turns it and reaches for the old brass handle. Her face echoes her pain as she twists the knob but she gets it open just as the door above us bursts apart. Lash's footsteps are loud on the steps and I know he's found us.
"C'mon." I grab Skye's hand once more, pulling her through the dark and musty basement, past long forgotten file cabinets and brick pillars toward one final door. It leads out to the Red Line tunnel, an emergency access to and from the CTA managed track, and right now it is our only hope for escape. Just as we get it open lightning strikes all around and the building shudders under its collapsing weight. The impact of the pan caking building forces us out onto the tracks and the sting of flying debris attacks my face and arms as I fall under the weight of it.
I lay there stunned, bricks and mortar all around, dust in my eyes, until finally I start pushing the debris aside, looking for Skye. She's landed right near the third rail, her head perilously close to it, her eyes closed as blood runs from a cut along her brow line. Hurrying toward her I feel the pain in my leg, the ache at the back of my neck, and the beginnings of a headache from hell, but right now I don't care. All I want is to get to her, rescue her, before Skye's head or hand touches that third rail. No suppression gloves, or her own super power will save her from a shock like that. I lift her carefully, hoping I'm not doing further damage to any injuries she's sustained, when she groans softly in my arms.
"You're okay," I tell her, settling her against the wall of the tunnel. The debris from the collapsed building is enough to keep the trains out for a while and I can imagine the disaster on the street as well. Skye wakes slowly while I rip a piece of my shirt off and hold it carefully to her forehead. Rumbling from the wreckage in the middle of the track tells me we are in trouble and when blue lightning flickers around the pile I know he's found us.
"Get these off me," she snaps angrily, but I've lost the keys. They are probably still in the ruins of the door. Skye looks at her hands and we both realize that one of the gloves is in shreds already. I help her peel back what's left of the glove and she uses her powers to get the cuff off the other one, all while scrambling to her feet. This time I'm the one struggling to keep up as she runs down the tunnel, careful not to trip on any of the rails.
"Daisy!" A voice is calling from the darkness. Someone I don't recognize, but Skye does.
"I'm here, Lincoln." She's out of breath, glancing toward me briefly. "I hope you brought backup!"
"I brought Bambino!" his disembodied voice replies.
"Thank God," Skye whispers. When we get to him it's the kid we rescued from the Arctic Hydra base, I'm sure of it. He seems surprised to see me, especially when she turns to me and says, "You'd better go now."
I nod, understanding that the rest of the team must be moments away. She's giving me a reprieve. I don't deserve it, but I'll take it.
"Ward," she calls after me so I stop, turn around to see her face, bloody and covered in dust and grime, her short dark hair a complete mess. She is still beautiful to me after all this time. "You come after my team again and I will kill you."
I nod but there is nothing more to say. If she knew the truth of what happened in these very tunnels only days ago she would kill me now, I'm sure of it. But the blue electricity is coming close and Skye raises her hands while the guy she called Lincoln raises the enormous weapon in his hands and they begin to battle the monster, so for better or worse I turn and run. The tunnel shakes and groans as I hurry away, my mind still on Skye. Or... what did he call her? Daisy. I'm sure of it. She's found her true self after all and she's embracing it. I make my way up the stairs, back at street level, the sun burning my eyes slightly. The air is filled with Sirens. Paper flutters in the wind and my beautiful office with the view of Lake Michigan has crumbled into nothing. As I stand there bewildered, a taxi pulls up and the door opens. I'm stunned for a moment and then I smile as Miles says, "It's time to go, Sir."
I nod to him and as I get to the door, I reassure him that his compliance will be rewarded.
The end.