Author's Note: Sorry about that guys. Hopefully, this time it will work

Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of SHIELD

"Come on, dad, rise and shine." Ward heard the voice, but for the first time in a long time, he didn't want to get up. He still felt the pain that Mephisto had caused him, still felt the fire in his veins, his regular muscles feeling like he had been run over by a train, then had a plane crash into him. In other words, it hurt to even breathe. "Come on, dad, you've been through worse."

That was when he started to register the words. Someone was calling him Dad. The simple noun being applied to him felt strange. He knew he didn't have any kid. Then he remembered why Mephisto had even decided to make Coulson work with him, why he decided to 'help' him out. His son had made a bet with the devil.

"You're an idiot." Ward just plainly stated, not even bothering to open his eyes to see where his son might be. Then he remembered that Mephisto also said that his son wasn't born until seven years from now, yet right now he sounded grown.

"Glad to know that you don't change. You were always so grumpy when you didn't have your coffee. I swear, padre, if SHIELD ever wanted to cripple you, all they had to do was find a way to stop your coffee supplier, and bam, no more Grant Ward. Instead, we get an early look at the zombie apocalypse." The voice joked. It sounded like it had a faint southern accent to it, but Ward didn't have any idea how he would get it. "Come on, lazy bum. If you open your eyes and move around a little, the pain stops. Well, maybe stop is a bit strong."

Ward couldn't help the smile on his lips. It had been a long time since anyone had been comfortable enough to joke around with him that he couldn't even keep his straight face on. Ward opened his eyes, and there as plain as day, was a teenager in a leather jacket, black tee shirt, jeans, and black combat boots. His black hair was cut military short, and he had the famous Ward cheekbones. But while Ward had brown eyes, this kid had sapphire blue eyes. And while Ward always tried to keep a straight face, the kid looked like he had just drawn on his face and could barely keep in the laughter. Their build was the same, lean but muscular. All in all, there was no denying that this was his son.

"Aren't you supposed to not be born yet?" Ward asked the young man.

"Aren't you suppose to be the leader of Hydra? Yet here you are in the Headquarters of SHIELD. And I sense that you have no plan to even take advantage of this fact." And then the kid had the nerve to laugh. "No worries, dad. I've got a plan."

"And what makes you even think that I could be hero, huh? What, do you have a mind eraser in your pockets? Because there's no way in hell I could convince someone who doesn't know me that I'm a hero, let alone Coulson's people. Did you want to give up your soul? Do you have a death wish or something?" Ward vented at his son. "I am Hydra! I am the villain in this tale! Redemption is something beyond me! I can't be what you need me to be! I'll just let you down, just like everyone else!"

"And who says you can't be a hero? SHIELD? Please, their Hydra on a white horse instead of a black one. Come on, man. That's like saying there's a difference between soldiers. The only difference is that Hydra's willing to go a bit further than SHIELD. Now come on, there's work to be done. Oh, and I guess I should introduce myself to you. I'm John Thomas Ward. Now come on. Let's explore the base while the little sheep are away." John said with a mischievous grin.

It took a minute for Ward to realize that he hadn't been looking at his environment. 'Rookie mistake,' thought Ward. He finally allowed himself to search the room. It looked like he was in the medbay. He could imagine Simmons being in here, checking on all her patients. In the next room looked to be a lab of some sort, there was chemicals, test tubes, and plenty of gadgets that he knew would be beneficial for his Hydra. But even if he somehow got his kid to grab all they could carry, he doubted that they could get out of the base alive. Then he remembered what Mephisto had given him.

"Don't even think about it," John said, not even looking back to confirm what his father was doing. "Mephisto is an asshole. And if you steal from SHIELD, then you lose, he wins and he not only takes my soul, but also the powers he had given you."

A thought occurred to Ward as he looked over at John. "How do I even know you're my son? I mean, sure you look like me, but Mephisto could easily have sent someone here just to throw me off."

"While that's a very elaborate scheme, no one, not even in Hell, wants to just follow you around to give you bad advice. Plus, who else would put up with your crap besides your son. Well, besides your wife, but hey Mom's too old to be doing shit like this." John easily replied. Then he stopped for a minute, like he was rethinking his response, then decided to add, "Don't tell Mom that I said that. She would kill me, son or not."

Ward couldn't help the curl in his lips. "So what are you doing here?" Ward asked John. "Not that I don't like seeing the reason I'm helping SHIELD in the first place, but how are you here? I doubt Mephisto would just send you back to help me out." He continued following him into a hallway. He couldn't help but analyse him. He walked around as if he owned the place, as if there wasn't at least a hundred people in this building wanting them both dead, him because of what he did, and John because of the blood they shared.

"I'm here to keep you honest, give you a focus. And as to how," He stopped and turned around, his eyes shining with pride over his unsaid accomplishment. "I raised the stakes in the bet. Now, not only does he get my soul, but I will serve twice as long as any others before me have. See most men who sell their souls, serve Mephisto until they either die or regain their own willpower. I offered him the ability to absorb my will power, making me a perfect servant for him. In exchange, Mephisto's allowed me to help you. Now, you should probably not talk around here. They might hear you in their little get together, and someone might complain about the noise we're making."

Just as John finished speaking, one of the doors on the right side of the hallway flew off it's hinges, slamming into the opposing wall. The ground beneath both the Wards feet was shaking, and he was certain he could hear the ceiling begin to crack.

"Ah, perfect. Skye is here with the welcome party." John said, smiling like a cheshire cat. "I don't think we need to tiptoe anymore. But we might want to start thinking about running in the other direction."

"Well, it's good to know you have enough common sense to run from Skye. So, was the whole bet with Mephisto just a lapse of judgement or what?" Ward joked back, surprising himself. He never thought it would not only be this easy to talk to his son, but to joke with him in the face of certain death.

"Ah, the whole thing with Mephisto wasn't so bad. Offer him your soul, and boom, nice as a kitten with a ball of yarn." John replied, still somehow retaining that smile as Skye walked through what was left of the doorway. She was in sweats and a tank top, with her hair in a ponytail. She looked furious, to say the least, her hands already fist. Power radiated off her, just like her anger.

"Skye, I said you aren't allowed to hurt him!" Coulson cried from the doorway, obviously seeing that she had lost control. Coulson looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, yet Ward knew he hadn't been out for more than a night. He had dark rings under his eyes, his usual professional demeanor was replaced with one of an exhausted man.

"Nah, Coulson. Let her have her go." John yelled out. His smile reminded him of that of a crazy person now. "I've always wondered how much of a bitch she truly was back in the day. Tell me, how does it feel to know that you still haven't taken down any Wards, yet we've taken out countless number of SHIELD agents?"

The words had an effect, though what the intentions of those words were was a mystery to Ward. He felt the power from Skye escalate along with her anger. She suddenly seemed focused though. "And who the hell are you?" She growled out.

"Why you don't know me? I'm hurt! You've wounded me, madam!" John cried out, clutching the area around his heart. Ward couldn't but think that Skye could do much more than hurt people with words and that John should be quite. "Why, I am the son of Satan. I am the prince of darkness. I am the black knight. I am the bogeyman that you check under your bed for. I am Jonathan Thomas Ward. Son of the great Grant Douglas Ward. And the murder of more than my fair share of SHIELD agents. It seems that you've come to join the growing list."