Chapter One (Lucy)
Ward rushed outside of the Bus at the sound of the explosion. It sounded as though it had occurred not far from the Bus, maybe even a couple of feet. The force of the blast had shaken the plane like a toy and even blew off some of the walling.
Anxious sweat trickled down his forehead. Skye and Fitzsimmons were out there, no telling what had happened to them. Ward approached Coulson, whose face was complete terror. Fitzsimmons was standing nearby.
"What the Hell happened?!" Ward demanded. "What exploded?!"
Coulson shook his head, "I-I don't know. A bomb of some types. I don't know." He was clearly at a loss for words.
Ward scanned the perimeter, "Where the Hell is Skye?!" He looked straight at Coulson, "Where is she?!"
Coulson gulped, "I-I'm sorry Grant, she's gone. Must've got caught in the blast."
Ward's knees buckled and he fell to the ground. "What?" he gasped out. "She's dead?"
Fitzsimmons quickly came over and May came out of the Bus.
"SHIELD backup is on its way." May said.
Coulson nodded and looked back to Ward, "There's no body. We assume that she was incinerated."
"If there isn't a body that means that there is a chance that she is still alive!" Ward snapped. "She has to be alive!"
May looked to the distraught agent, "Grant, give it up. There's no chance that she lived. That was an extremely powerful blast. There's no way at all."
Fitz looked to Coulson, "High range blast, definitely a bomb. Probably high-tech. This was no accident."
Ward looked at Fitz, "Do you mean this all was on purpose?" His voice was weak, every other word cracked.
"Yes." Fitz replied as simply as he could.
Coulson frowned, "Probably some terrorist group or an enemy of SHIELD."
"But why attack us?" Simmons asked.
"We are alone out here with no defenses. Perfect chance to attack." May replied. "Whoever it was had a major advantage."
"Great." Ward mumbled.
Coulson sighed, "Grant, get inside. We'll take care of this. I promise."
Ward got up and turned to Coulson, "And what does that matter?" he asked. "Skye's dead and there's no helping it. And whoever this is won't stop at Skye. They'll probably keep trying to kill us. One by one."
The flash of lights and the sound of engines diverted the team's attention. They looked to see several SHIELD cars pull up. One of the cars' doors opened and Agent Victoria Hand stepped out and walked over to the group.
"Coulson."
"Hand."
"What is the problem here?" Hand asked.
"Bomb. We don't know by whom, but one of my agents got caught in the blast and was killed." Coulson replied, seeing Ward cringe with grief.
"Any clues so far?"
Coulson shook his head, "None. We don't know what kind of bomb, we don't know who would want to kill us. But one agent is dead."
Hand turned to the field agents that stood behind her, "Spread out." she ordered. "Search for any possible evidence." She turned back to Coulson, "You can go inside, we can handle this from here. I'll let you know when we have found something."
"Grant, it will be ok." Simmons reassured.
"No it won't!" Ward snapped. "And when will it ever be ok? There is probably killers out there after us. One of us will be next. It could be you, it could be me, it could be Fitz."
Simmons blinked at Ward's harsh words, "Coulson said this will all be solved."
"And when is Coulson ever right?!" Ward growled. "And I feel like this is all my fault."
"No it's not."
"Yes it is! The one time I wasn't there for her, she's killed by a bomb. Right near me!" Ward wailed.
"Don't go blaming yourself, Grant. This was something we couldn't stop." Simmons stated. "Don't blame yourself."
"Stop talking!" Ward hissed. "I failed her and I'm the reason she's dead."
Author's Note: I don't own AoS, Marvel does. This is sort of the pilot for this story. Lots of SkyeWard. Much tradegy, very sorrow. I don't know how this will go, so I hope you will give this a chance. Next chapter: Ward does some snooping of his own and Fitz finds a shocking secret about Ward. Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will return in a chapter. Keep reading and please review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.