I don't own Agents of SHIELD and never will. No copyright infringement intended.
Warnings: Mentions of physical and sexual abuse.
Raina sits back in the chair and smirks at May. "So you caught me again but that doesn't mean I'm going to stay here." She's confident that The Doctor will send someone in to save her soon. They won't get anything out of her that she doesn't want to tell him, and they all know that. Raina doesn't know why they're even bothering. "How is it going, rebuilding SHIELD? Run into any trouble lately now that you got Creel?"
"Shut up, Raina. I'm doing the talking. What you've been up to for the past year since Ward let you out of prison."
"Now why would I do that, Agent May?"
"Stop playing games with me!" May shouts. She will not let this woman piss her off because Raina isn't worth it. She also doesn't have the patience either.
Raina sighs. I'm not playing any games with you. How is former Agent Ward? I assume he's rotting in prison. Poor boy."
May stops and stares at her. "Poor boy? That man murdered several innocent SHIELD agents, including Victoria Hand! There's nothing poor about him." She has a feeling she's committed a grave mistake when Raina starts laughing. "I will lock you up in the cell to rot," she threatens.
"Do you really not know? Have you not cracked the video feeds in Cuba? Or you haven't had the time to look, what with having to deal with everything else that came your way." Raina knows how to knock them off balance and she is definitely going to use this information on Garrett and Ward to her advantage. Might as well knock Coulson's team down a few pegs.
May leans over and grabs Raina's shirt. "If you don't tell me, I will kill you and no one will stop me." She can't stand this woman anymore.
"Fine. Let go of me, Agent May." When May complies, Raina waits a few minutes before finally telling her. "The video feeds to Cuba will tell you how Garrett and Ward operated. And that's all I'm going to say." She'll enjoy watching them flounder after this.
May glares angrily and marches out of the room before heading to find Skye. "What's up? Raina not cracking?" Skye questions once she sees her.
"Can you pull up the video feeds from Cuba that we got? Raina is insisting there's something there we haven't seen."
Skye nods, confused. "Yeah, I just need to crack the encryption but that shouldn't take too long. And you do realize Raina's just fucking with you for kicks, right?"
May isn't amused and tells her so. "Just do it and get this over with. I know Raina's probably stalling but she'll be rotting in a cell just like Ward's soon. And this time, it'll stick." She sighs and only has to wait about two minutes for Skye to crack the encryption.
Needless to say, both May and Skye are absolutely horrified witnessing Garrett beat Ward. There's no audio at all but they don't need to see that Ward isn't fighting back. "What the fuck," Skye finally mutters once the initial shock passes.
"Get Coulson now," May orders brusquely. She has a feeling they may have missed a very big part of Ward's story that they need to know about. The beating was most likely for the cover but something isn't sitting right with her, especially if this is what Raina wants them to see.
Skye comes back with Coulson and makes him sit down and watch the video. "Where are we going with this?" Like May, he believes Garrett most likely beat Ward for the cover but something is off about the entire situation and he's tired of ignoring his gut when it comes to the traitor living in a cell in their basement.
May sighs. "Let it be known that I'm not a fan of this plan but Skye needs to go down there and question him. He said every word out of his mouth to her would be the truth so let's put that to the test. Wait until I get back, though. I want to question Raina some more."
Skye tries to ignore the growing feeling of worry in her stomach. It could be nothing but it's not. She has a horrible feeling about where this conversation will go, and she doesn't want to cry over Grant Ward again. May had to calm her down after she visited him last time and learned about the numerous suicide attempts. "I'll try to see if any of the feeds on the Bus caught anything," Skye decides. Maybe they'll get lucky but who is she kidding?
"We'll meet back up in ten minutes," Coulson tells them. He heads back to his office so he can keep an eye on the video feed.
Skye pulls up the Bus' video feeds but decides to hold off on checking them until after she talks with Ward. She's already starting to feel sorry for him but she refuses to feel that way. She'll watch once she's done. "Ugh, I am not looking forward to this," she tells the director. Skye has a horrible feeling her world is about to be rocked to its core again and she doesn't like it.
"Why did you want us to see that video?" May demands soon as she enters the interrogation room.
"Just wanted to enlighten you. Was it enlightening? Have you talked to Mike Peterson lately? He knows some more than I do. It might be a good idea." Raina is content and pleased that she managed to catch them off guard because that means she was successful.
"Shut up. I'm taking you to a cell now." She places a bag over Raina's head and leads her downstairs to where the cells are. May plans on keeping Raina far away from Ward because she knows those two shouldn't be so close.
"How long do you think I'll be down there?" Skye questions just as May enters the room.
"However long it takes you to get the truth." Coulson doesn't know what Ward is going to tell Skye but it better be good. And he's hopeful this will lead to more shared intel.
Skye takes a deep breath and pulls herself together before she walks into Ward's cell. His face lights up when he sees her. "You need more intelligence? Did you get Creel? Who are you after now?"
She glares at him. "I ask the questions. Sit down on the floor."
He looks confused but complies. "What is going on?"
"No questions from you. We caught Raina and she directed us towards some very interesting footage. Care to tell us about it?" Skye will make it through this conversation because otherwise she'll fail and she can't have that.
"Uh, I would if I knew what footage you were talking about." He doesn't understand why she's even asking unless this had to do with her parents. Has Raina said anything about them to her? It seems unlikely since Skye isn't asking about that.
"I was talking about in Cuba, when Garrett beat the shit out of you. Was that for the cover like everyone is claiming? Because it certainly doesn't seem like it." Damn it, she won't let herself crack just yet. She can't afford it right now.
Ward looks down at the ground before answering. "It was for the cover and no, it wasn't the first time that happened." He meant it when he told Skye he'd never lie to her again. Hopefully this is just one step of many.
Her breath catches. "That wasn't the first time?" Skye clarifies.
He shakes his head. "No. Ask me something else. I know you're dying to." Ward really doesn't want to be having this conversation about John's punishment but it's far too late now to do anything about it. And Skye wants to know so he has to tell her.
"When did you first meet Garrett? Doesn't seem like it was at the Academy." Fuck, Skye just knows this conversation is going to get worse and she desperately wants out.
Ward tries to shut himself down but none of his usual tactics are working. He knows he's hit rock bottom and that's most likely why. But his eyes glaze over, worrying her (not that Skye would ever admit it). "You know about my older brother." At her nod, he continues. "My home life was complete and utter shit. My parents were not good people but they pretended to be. My father was an alcoholic and my mother wasn't much better. I started fighting back against Maynard and they sent me to military school. I haven't mentioned you to her but I have a little sister named Lana. Maynard did something really bad to Lana and Michael called me in tears. I stole a car and drove home then set the house on fire with Maynard inside. He got out and my parents wanted to press charges, and he wanted me tried as an adult. I was in juvie when Garrett found me." He stops to take a breath.
Skye tries to push down the growing feeling of horror. "And what happened from there?" She doesn't blame him for snapping and trying to burn the house down. And whatever this "really bad" thing is? Her number one theory is sending chills down her spine.
"He offered me a way out and I took it." His voice cracks and he hates himself even more for it.
"What do you mean?" Her heart is pounding and she tries to calm herself down. She can't afford to fall apart right now, especially not in front of him. Skye won't give Ward the satisfaction although she isn't sure that's going to happen at any point during this conversation.
Ward sighs. "He told me he could teach me how to be a man and so I went with him. He dropped me in the woods in Wyoming."
Skye's mouth drops open. "What? How long were you there?" Fuck, she really doesn't want to know the answer to her question.
"Six months by myself with a dog that Garrett gave me. Buddy was with me the entire time. I spent five total years in those woods. And when those five years was up and I was accepted to the Academy, he ordered me to shoot Buddy and eliminate my weakness. But I couldn't do it and John shot him anyway." He doesn't want to talk about this anymore because he knows he's going to break down and he can't be weak. He just can't.
Skye opens her mouth to reply a few times but nothing comes out at first. "He beat you too?" she guesses.
"Every time I fucked up or wasn't good enough and that was ninety five percent of the time. Sometimes he punished me just because he wanted to. I tried really hard to be good."
"I know you did," she assures him and doesn't know why. Ward shouldn't need reassurance but he does. Skye tries to come to terms with the bomb that's been dropped on her. Grant Ward has literally been abused his entire life and SHIELD seemed to overlook it. She doesn't understand how he slipped through the cracks for so long. Then an extremely dark thought crosses Skye's mind. She doesn't want to put it to words but knows she needs an entire picture. "Ward, did Garrett ever touch you in other ways he wasn't supposed to?" She can't ask him if he had sex with Garrett (raped, her mind whispers).
Fortunately – or unfortunately – Ward understands what she's asking. He looks ashamed of himself and Skye's heart breaks. She already knows the answer before he even starts telling her. "Yes," he mutters.
She resists the urge to vomit. "How old were you the first time?"
It takes Ward a while to answer but he finally does. "Sixteen. He came back a few months after the first visit – eight months in – and it happened then." He looks up at her with glassy eyes. "I didn't like it, Skye. I felt wrong and bad but John said it was okay. And sometimes, it made him so happy I didn't get punished."
Skye gags and hopes he didn't notice. "It's okay. Grant. He can't hurt anymore, okay? Coulson made sure of that. I'll be back whenever we need intel." She calmly walks out of the cell and just barely makes it to a bathroom. She's grateful when May appears and hugs her once she's done. "Oh God, May. No wonder he tried to kill himself." She bursts into sobs and is grateful when May starts rocking her back and forth to calm her down. Fifteen minutes later, Skye pulls herself together enough to head back up to Coulson's office. "If you're not sending down a therapist, find one as soon as possible."
A pale Coulson nods. "I will definitely try to find one – the best one, because Ward's going to need a lot of help." If he had known this beforehand, things would have played out a lot differently. He had known Garrett was a psychopath but Coulson hadn't realized the man had kidnapped a teenage boy he proceeded to physically and sexually abuse. How had they – SHIELD – missed this for so long? It doesn't compute for him at all.
A therapist will go a long way and at least it's a start. Grant Ward is finally going to get the help he desperately needs. No wonder he finally cracked. He's strong for managing to survive a lifetime of abuse. It's also time they all have a long talk – every single one of them. He's going to have to call in Jemma, something Coulson wanted to avoid. However, this is important enough to do so.
Grant Ward hit rock bottom but he doesn't have to stay there.