A deal
Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Marvel™.
The lay of the land was that normally, once the euphoria of freedom wore off, Grant Ward would be lost. Throughout his life, he used to either have no freedom to chose, no choices to make, or to have the others make them for him – thus was how he lost Skye, Fitz and Simmons, the rest of the team. Grant does not argue, he agrees – he is not very good at making decisions for himself. But when it comes to family, things, ah, are different.
Grant Ward hates his biological family, pure and simple, and they hate him back. He had followed John Garrett down to the bitter, pointless end for a number of reasons, not just because he had owed the older man everything (and so everything was taken from him), but because, for all of his flaws, the elder double-agent had always been a better father to Grant than Mr. Ward ever was.
Sometimes, when he thinks of fathers, Grant thinks about Phil Coulson, about choices and role models – even he does not consider himself to be that stupid, he knows that if had chosen a different person, made a different choice period – he'd...be a different person, for if it wasn't for Garrett, he'd never been in S.H.I.E.L.D., never met his ex team-mates, never had anything that he had lost in the first place. Does that matter? Grant does not know.
What he does know is that Coulson had sold him out to his brother like a piece of meat, a bargaining chip, and that makes all the difference – to him. Grant Ward hates his biological family, pure and simple, and they hate him back. Coulson (agent or director, whatever) does not know that, or maybe he does, but does not care about it – big mistake. He had joined Grant's family against him, he had truly become Grant's enemy, and he is going to truly learn what that means.
Grant Ward, normally, is not big on plans, other than 'search and destroy'. His family, however, is special – he had long since made A PLAN for them, a very detailed plan, and now that they are back and are trying to get him for real (and there is no one, no S.H.I.E.L.D. to hide behind), he is going to implement it – somehow. Well, he has most of it down flat, all that he lacks are few small details to polish it, so he is going to spend few more days, or even weeks, to do just that – he is dealing with his biological family now, they're special – in a bad way.
...Only now there is a problem. There is someone already in the safe house that he had designated, as Grant can see Hunter and Morse, two more of Coulson's new acquisitions, (let's start thinking about them like that, rather like formerly fellow agents?), leave the place behind, carrying some personal effects. Inconvenient, but also interesting. The person in the safe house is not Skye (and why would he think that?), but rather Raina. Much more interesting, Grant had not seen the girl in the flower dress in ages, and he thought that she was too smart, cunning and slick to get involved in the S.H.I.E.L.D.-Hydra feud ever again – but she is also the person he can use, her and her silver tongue.
Grant spends several weeks, rather than days, getting his materials together, stalking the place, lying low in general and avoiding the attention of others – other people in general. He is good at that, and now that he has a plan – an even clearer plan than before – he is very good.
And then, almost two months over, the preliminaries are over (without Raina, Grant would have been done in two weeks instead, but Raina and her spin-doctor skills are worth it), and it is off to talk to the girl in the flower dress.
/
The first time Raina had seen Grant Ward in months since their parting of the ways at Cybertek, and it scares her much more than she would expect – she had encounters with her employer Cal and Hydra head, Whitehall, and escaped from them relatively unscathed, and both of them are powerful, deadly men, each in his own right – but Grant Ward is something else. The indecisiveness that had haunted him back at Cybertek has vanished without a trace, the man standing before her is leaner than before, but also harder, and there is a very specific determination in his eyes that had not been there before.
"Agent Ward, it's been a while since I saw you," she says carefully, trying to make a distance between them – if he'd been sent to kill her, she's doomed, and she wants to live, no matter how crappy her life had become lately. "How's Hydra?"
"I have no idea," Grant replies easily. "I've done working for them, and I am almost done with S.H.I.E.L.D. too. Why are you staying in one of their safe houses?"
"A deal made in regards to protection from Whitehall and Hydra," Raina allows herself a tiny sliver of hope that she is going to live for another day or even two. "I got tracking devices implanted in my skin – both from them and Hydra," and she points them out, where they are imbedded.
"I see," Grant nods solemnly. "I can remove them from you in exchange for two things. Secondly – why are you here, involved with Garrett, Hydra, Coulson, S.H.I.E.L.D., et cetera?"
"Because-" Raina wants to say Skye, but she is not sure just how well this new, different Grant Ward would react to that name, so she says instead: "-of aliens. There is a hidden temple in Puerto Rico that can give the right person the power and knowledge unimaginable, locked by a Diviner that came from beyond the stars! I want it, Grant Ward, I want it, and I'm willing to deal with anyone who can help me get that Diviner away from Hydra – even you, Grant Ward," she adds for a further measure, since there is a noticeable glimmer of interest, aimed towards her and her words.
(It had been weeks, if not months, since anyone showed any interest in what she was saying and Raina finds Grant's attention even more flattering than she normally would. The fact that he is easy on the eye does not hurt either.)
"What does it look like? Do you have a picture on you right now?" the man asks, curiously.
"Here," Raina pulls out the photo of the Diviner. It is not very good, but Grant Ward takes a good long look at it with genuine attention. "Ever seen anything like it?"
"Yes," Grant answers, leaving Raina open-mouthed. He pulls out a photo of his own from a pocket – it too is an old photo, but not as old as Raina's, and in a better condition. "This is a very small, very ancient and well-hidden mountain shrine in the south-west Himalayas," he explains, as he shows the photo to Raina. It too features the Diviner...but it is a different Diviner: the markings are different, and it is clearly not Puerto Rico. "It is under protection of World Security Council. Help me with the other thing, and I will introduce you – and your friends, if you have any."
That is a depressing thought, actually. Aside from Cal, Raina does not have anyone in the world who cares about her...and that actually includes Cal. All that that man cares about is his daughter, the Sparkly-Sparkly Princess Poots as Raina has dubbed her (but never in Cal's presence, that is very stupid), and Raina is heartily sick of her by now. Plus...the World Security Council? Now that is a tasty carrot.
"And how are you going to do that?" Raina asks, though not tartly enough as she normally would – the thoughts of another Diviner are something else. "You're even less popular with the crowd than I am, and that is saying something."
"Which is the first thing that I am asking you – for help," Grant nods, still unshaken. "You're very good with words and with making them dance. I got all the facts already – can you make them more polished?" He gives Raina a memory stick, which she puts into her computer (she does have one, though she is certain that S.H.I.E.L.D. is monitoring it at least some of the time), still quite curious – is it more about the Diviner(s)?
...It actually isn't, but it is actually even more interesting – it's information, very personal, very private and powerful information, the sort of information that is bread and butter to Raina, even more so than the aliens are (the aliens are her dream, this is more like day to day reality instead), and the sort that she'd been kept away – starved even – by S.H.I.E.L.D.
Still... some things do not quite add up. "Are you sure that you will be able to get away with this – and by 'you' I mean us?" she hastily amends. "I've been at blackmailing a long while longer than you have, I bet, S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra training or otherwise-"
"Oh, you don't understand," Grant is not perturbed. "I just want you to polish the text and make it more presentable, more people-friendly, or whatever the right name for that is. I am not going to blackmail anyone – on the contrary, I am exposing all of this to the public. My biological family has declared an open season on me? I will give it to them – right between the eyes. And then, while the dust settles, I'm going to help you back."
"How so?" Raina mutters. A secret this powerful should be guarded and treasured, right? Not exposed to the public for the greater good or whatever, yes? "Without leverage-"
Grant sat and began to explain his second plot – the one regarding the second Diviner/Obelisk to Raina. It was a longer explanation than he had expected, though not by much; explaining the complex and unfriendly relationship between the World Security Council and S.H.I.E.L.D. alone took more than 15 minutes – but Raina was listening to it all very, very attentively, and with genuine interest (he hoped). And once he had finished...
"This sounds rather realistic," Raina did her best not to sound impressed, but as a schemer, she knew a good plan when she heard one, and this was one of the better ones. "Put a lot of effort into it?"
"Seven weeks worth," Grant nods, "though that is just your part of this; I planned the part regarding my biological family – Christian, the parental units, etc – for a large part of my life." The last part is half-statement and half-challenge, and Raina, who feels that so far she had received nothing but some really tasty carrots for her mind, most certainly does not rise to it.
There is one last part to it, though.
"What about S.H.I.E.L.D.? Coulson and your former crew?"
"You said it yourself – former. I fucked up so very badly that I cannot deny it – but I did strive to make it better, to fix it. I failed, perhaps, but Coulson and they have allied with my family – my biological family, and that is something else. Now they are on an equal footing with me."
"How so?" Raina cannot help but to ask; Grant rolls his eyes, and reveals several entries in his collection – Raina reads them in a greater detail and her eyes widen in astonishment. "This doesn't sound like S.H.I.E.L.D." she says finally, "maybe Coulson actually got fooled?"
"Unlikely," Grant is not very convinced, "but let's make a deal. We will talk to them, and if I being handed over to Christian was the extent of their business together, "we'll give them a copy and keep them out of the business. If not – then not. Does that sound better?"
Raina blinks. She cannot help but feel that she had done something that matters, but that is ridiculous; she's is just a small-scale hustler and trickster; a con artist – everyone has said so, including Cal; true, Cal may not be as knowledgeable as she had thought, but still. Things that matter are big, not something small as giving someone a choice, right?
"You okay?" Grant says quietly, seeing how Raina has gone quiet and subdued all over sudden.
"Yes," Raina says firmly, shaking Grant's head and sitting behind her computer – Morse and Hunter aren't due for almost two or three weeks, but she still got a lot to cover. "And we got a deal."
End.
