This was originally posted as a one-shot for the Skyeward Month Week Three Day One AU prompt: Reversed Roles. But since I enjoyed writing it so much, I decided to post a second chapter to it. But for you who haven't read my original one-shot, here's the edited version! (I added in a few things, but nothing too big).

(AU: Reversed Roles: Skye is HYDRA, Grant is SHIELD).

Bile rises in Grant's throat as he stumbles back, Koenig's slack-jawed face implanted on the back of his eyeballs. He's seen dead bodies before, in worse shape than this one, but it's not the how that's making him heave. It's the who.

He can't even imagine how she could have done this: Skye, who's basically as weak as a kitten, garrotting this man and shoving him in between two shelves. Grant turns away from the body – don't think of it as a person, don't think of what Skye did –, taking a few shallow, almost panicked breaths. Everything was going so perfect too. Skye and he were kissing, and finally Grant hoped that for once something would work out for him. That maybe this might be it: the thing that changes him from the socially awkward 'Robot' to… to Skye's socially awkward robot.

But now there's a dead body. A dead body in the store room.

It's clear to him that Skye killed him. The blood on her neck proves that, and the fact that it's only them here alone right now. Because May took off.

Or… did she? If Skye could kill Koenig, does that mean she killed May too? Suspicion prickles on the back of his neck.

May's the Calvary. There's no way anyone could get the jump on her. Grant tries to reassure himself. Especially not Skye.

But he doesn't really know Skye now, does he? The Skye he knows couldn't have killed Koenig. So maybe this Skye, the real Skye, could have.

Grant vaguely hears himself hyperventilate. He can't hear anything clearly right now as the panic rises up. Skye could have killed May. Skye actually killed Koenig.

Skye could try to kill him.

After all, what does she need him for? He's basically just the hired muscle, and Skye's clearly strong enough to look after herself. So logically, killing him is the perfect next step. What would HYDRA need him for? Why is Skye loyal to them? Grant closes his eyes, trying to bring himself back under control. He needs to remain in control. He reviews the facts as he presses his forehead against the cold wall.

Number one: Skye is HYDRA.

Number two: Skye is a murderer.

Number three: He's alone with her.

"Grant?" Her voice cuts through the silence that follows that last point, and Grant freezes before glancing down at the tablet map in his hands. It shows Skye a corridor over, so he thinks fast, dropping the tablet to the floor as he scrambles out of the room. Quickly, knowing he has little time, he ducks into one of the side rooms, seeing the pull down window/picture things. It takes him 5 seconds to rip his message into it before switching the design to the unmarked version. Hopefully someone will notice it and see the message before it's too late. He steps out of the room, barely managing to shut the door before-

"Grant," Skye smiles, and Grant jumps about half a mile into the air. "Hey, you." She keeps smiling.

"Sk…Skye." Grant stumbles over his words in fright. You've got to get a grip, or she'll know that you're onto her!

"Where'd you disappear off to?" She asks, laying a hand onto his arm. Grant stares at it for half a second before it clicks.

She's just like a mark. He just has to play a part until he sees an opportunity. That's all. I just have to do my job.

"Bathroom." Grant slips into an easy smile. "Don't worry, I wasn't running away." He teases lightly, even slipping an arm around her shoulders. He has to make it seem believable, after all.

"I thought I scared you off for a moment there." Skye gazes up at him. "I know you're not the most…" She hesitates, looking down. She's not the Skye you know. He repeats in the back of his head. She's not the Skye you know.

"You'll never scare me off Skye." Grant promises even as Koenig's body flashes behind his eyes. "I'm not that easily scared, you know."

"That's good to hear." Skye's eyes meet his again. "Anyway, Coulson called. He wants us to unlock the information."

Grant's blood runs cold. What are the chances that Coulson actually called? It's more likely that Skye's taking him somewhere to kill him. Or maybe she'll take him to HYDRA. Either way, he's dead if he goes with her.

"Oh, okay." Grant's expression shows none of his inner thoughts. "Where do we have to go then?"

"I set the encryption to unlock at a specific location." Skye answers. "So Coulson says we should head there to unlock it."

"Are we meeting them there then?" Grant inquires innocently, watching to see how Skye will lie. He knows that if he leaves with Skye, he's going to have to fight his way free. Can he hurt Skye? Probably. The real question is if he wants to hurt Skye. A part of him is still in heaven that she kissed him, even as Koenig's body is burned into his retinas. But Grant doesn't want to die. He knows he wants to live. So if – no, when – it comes down to it, he's going to have to fight her.

"No, we're going to meet up with them afterwards." Skye shakes her head. "It's quicker that way."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want HYDRA getting us, would we?" Grant says, mainly as a test. How will Skye react to the name that holds her allegiance?

"You can fly, right?" Skye asks him instead of responding to his question. "Since May left-"

"You said you saw her leave." Grant interrupts. "Did she say where she was going?"

Skye shakes her head again. That doesn't mean she killed May, it doesn't.

"Anyway, let's go." She offers him her hand, gently shrugging his arm off her shoulder. Grant swallows, steeling himself as he slips his hand into hers. You're a murderer, Skye. "Maybe when this is all done… we can go back to what we were doing before." She suggests shyly, looking up at him from under her eyelashes.

Instead of responding verbally, Grant leans down and crushes his lips against hers, a voice screaming in the back of his mind. This isn't the first time he's kissed a murderer, not by a long shot, but it's the first time that he's felt repulsed by what he's doing.

Skye, why? Why did you have to be HYDRA?

Skye blinks up at him with her liquid chocolate eyes, looking as innocent as a baby deer. You're a murderer.

"Let's go."

"Grant, I love you!" Skye tells him a little while later even as she ties his wrists to the stair banister. He can't fight back against her: Grant can feel his eyes getting heavier as the drug she managed to inject him with takes effect. Mike Peterson stands a watchful guard. Could he be an ally? Grant doesn't think so, not with that eye implant. He's under it's orders, shown by how Peterson just tackled him and injected him with the drug. Even on high alert, Grant didn't sense Deathlok until it was too late. But it makes sense: he's Skye's protection, in case everything goes to hell. Absentmindedly, he wonders if it was a shock for Deathlok when he found out Skye's true nature like it was for him.

Grant knows that his chances of the team rescuing him are little to none. So he is totally and utterly on his own, defenceless as the sedative takes hold. He has no idea if he'll ever wake up again.

"Is that… Is that why you're doin' this?" Grant finds it hard to talk. His tongue is going numb. "…'Cause if that is why, then… this isn't love, Skye. It's… obsession."

Skye's pained look is the last thing he sees before his eyes shut.

When he next fights Skye, he realises how much she's been holding back. How much she's been lying to them.

"What about the shooting, Skye?" He yells at her, blocking her next punch easily. "Did you really let yourself get nearly killed for HYDRA? For the 'miracle drug'?" How could she do this? How could she betray them?

How could she betray him?

He can still see her smile, feel her lips against his, feel his heart beat faster as she closed in to kiss him. He can still see her lying like a bloody version of Snow White inside that cryochamber. He can still feel the powerlessness he felt then. But-

That powerlessness is no longer there. His anger lends him strength as he throws move after move at Skye, forcing her to work harder to evade him. Her breath comes in short huffs as her heart pounds, racing to pump oxygen around her body. Meanwhile, Grant feels invigorated. His anger fills his veins, strengthening his muscles and giving him the will to fight.

"Garrett needs it!" She shouts back. "Grant, he was your S.O., and he's dying. Do you feel nothing for him?"

One of his punches finally connect, hitting her down, splitting her lip wide open. She skids her hands against the dusty floor, her palms scraping, and is about to climb back up, her eyes flashing dangerously. She's not going to be playing around anymore. She's going to be fighting with all she's got.

Then a banshee like howl pushes past her lips as he staples her foot to the ground, before knocking her straight out with the staple gun.

"No." He says quietly, even though there's no-one to hear him.

In their new base, Vault D is a place Grant can always feel.

It has a dark, ugly and hypnotising presence that he's always aware of, that creeping feeling across his shoulders and the burning sense of shame when his feelings for that presence rise up. That presence haunts him in the day; it lingers in the night. It's a shadow that he can't shake, a stain across his soul.

Moving on since the day the old SHIELD fell have not been easy. It's been hard to figure out who to trust, and who's the enemy. But Grant thinks that maybe, just maybe, he'll be able to forget about that presence in the basement. He thinks that maybe he'll be able to look at a computer and not see her; he thinks he'll be able to hear the words 'I love you' without thinking of her. But most of all, Grant Ward thinks that he will never have to see the woman who took his heart and shredded it into tiny pieces with 5 letters; one word. HYDRA.

He is naïve to think that, but he doesn't know it quite yet.

"Sir, you asked for me?" Grant peeks his head around the side of the door. May and Coulson stand there, and beckon him in. May gazes out of a window, her arms crossed across her chest.

"We have a job for you." Coulson says, his eyes stiff. Grant looks back uncertainly. He doesn't like the look in Coulson's eyes.

"We need you to talk to Skye."

Did you like it? I hope so.

Anyway, if you want, please review! Hearing what you guys think is the best thing about writing this.

(This is still one of my favourite pieces I've ever written for Skyeward).

Please check out the second part too, in the next chapter! :)