Chapter 3: Unrecognizable

"Skye…" Ward whispered, clamping down on her fingers from digging further into his neck. "Please, Skye…"

His comms buzzed again. "Ward, what am I hearing?" Coulson's voice came through.

Ward could only exert his own grunts and strained groans while he struggled to breathe. "I—can't—"

"Ward, what's going on?"

"Can't—breathe…Skye…" he stammered. He tried using his legs to kick the ground from under her, but the force of her body on him was too great.

He attempted to jerk his head side to side…whispering, "Skye, it's me—Ward…Grant. Stop…"

"I'm no longer Skye," she answered, in an uncharacteristically low growl. "I am greater. I'm the universe, and I can see those who've hurt destroyed family…[pressed harder against him] who hurt me…"

Ward stared harder as he felt his back grinding painfully against the sharp rock behind him. "I did—I did hurt you. I'm sorry—"

"There's no room for apologies," she continued. "Only punishment. Only destruction. Only great power that you mortal humans can't understand. You are worthless."

"No…"

"…You are weak…"

"Skye…"

"…you are nothing to me, nothing to anyone…"

"…this isn't you…"

Skye leans in close, and whispers, "…no one's ever loved you…I've never loved you, and never will…"

The grip on his throat was getting tighter, but Ward didn't care. He only concentrated on staring into the dark eyes of the girl in front of him, choking him. His eyes pleaded, begged, for her to recognize him. He was trained to withstand emotional compromise and manipulation, but these blows, these attacks from Skye…he could never brace himself for.

And so, he loosens his grip on her and stops fighting.

"Finish him, my dear," The Doctor ordered. "He stole you from me, him and the man named Coulson. They stole the Diviner from me and tried to eliminate us years ago. They stole your life away from you, from me!"

She nodded, not taking her eyes off Ward for even a second. As if it sensed her movements, the Diviner suddenly appear by her side, floating. She grasped it, and instantly, her body glowed an intense flash of orange before she released it, letting it float back to the pedestal.

Ward pleaded, "Skye, listen to me…[coughs] This isn't you. I know you, Skye. You're stronger than who they say you are. Fight this, please…"

"You're right, I am stronger. [squeezes harder] You have no idea what I'm capable of," she monotonously answered. "Compliance will be rewarded. I've surrendered and I am being rewarded."

"Rewarded…?" Ward gasped.

HYDRA brainwashing. She's been brainwashed, not controlled, he thought. Damnit, HYDRA. Damnit, Ward. How did I not suspect this sooner?

"Finish him off!" the Doctor yelled.

"Skye, please…GAH!"

Skye managed to knee him in his gut, making him collapse to the ground in front of her, spraying out spit on the floor and coughing. He grabbed onto his throat and gasped to breathe properly again as best as he could, but Skye grabbed his shoulders and started kicking him everywhere: in the gut, in the legs, in the shoulder, and ultimately, his head. He was being thrashed about and he didn't want to do anything about it. She had gotten so strong with her training with May, and now, with her strength re-infused with the Diviner, her strength multiplied to be at a deadly level.

He had no fight in him. No more. As soon as Skye's boot collided with his head, he felt trickling of blood starting to come down his face. His vision blurred, but he wasn't sure if it was the kick or the hopeless tears forming in his eyes.

"Ward? Ward, are you there?" Coulson's voice came through the comms. "We're almost there. Copy? What is going on?"

He didn't answer. He was concentrating on the hatred looks shared in Skye's eyes and her father's. He knew he was dying, and he was okay with that as his eyes started to close…

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Fitz said, scurrying closely with his team. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know," Coulson answered, hurrying towards Ward's location. "I couldn't make out much in the comms, but it sounds like HYDRA brainwashed her and coupled with her touching the obelisk—Diviner, whatever, the possibility of destruction that she can cause just multiplied."

"We have to find a way to reverse this brainwashing," Simmons said. "It's a logical sequence to activate this trigger in her head, so we need to find another counter-logical sequence to reverse it."

"But how? She's being completely controlled! Her strength and everything about her has been amplified by the obelisk," May said.

Fitz snapped up. "That's it!"

"Huh?"

"The obelisk! We need to destroy it!" he continued. His logic and reasoning got a lot quicker with these months of help with Mack and Simmons at his side.

"How the hell do you destroy something that is alien? Bombing it doesn't exactly work, let alone if any of us touch it, we'll all die…." Trip trailed.

"We'll have to make Skye destroy it," Fitz reasoned. "She is the only one who's able to touch this without suffering any consequences. We have to reverse her brainwashing first, then allow her at that time to destroy it."

"He has a point, sir," Trip said. "We need to get her away from her Father, who seems to be controlling her moves and brain; we need to get HYDRA away from her, and completely isolate her from everything except us and the obelisk."

"Her father is completely tied to her," Lance said. "We can't even get him to side step away from her for a damn moment!"

"He's drawn to the obelisk," Simmons said. "And Fitz said himself, you need to destroy the obelisk. But to destroy it, we need to isolate him from it. It's a catch-22."

"Bloody hell," Fitz muttered. "No one else can remove the obelisk without getting killed from touching it first."

Coulson suddenly stopped in his tracks. "I can."

"Phil, NO—" May started.

He turned to her. "I can. I'm the only other person who has been infused with the GH-325 and reacted to it."

"Not to mention you reacted badly to it," May snapped. "Don't you recall all those times you were madly drawing out those carvings? Night, day, desk, wall, anywhere and anytime you could! We cannot risk losing you along with Skye!"

"We can't lose Skye!" Coulson yelled. "I'm her only chance, our only chance, to get her back. Ward for all we know has been severely injured or getting killed at her hand already. What's to stop her from getting out and destroying us or herself in the end? The world? Like HYDRA's original intentions?"

He hurried his pace to lead his group up the stairs, finally reaching the area where Skye and Ward were currently at. I am not losing my baby girl to HYDRA or this alien piece of crap, Coulson thought.