Chapter 4

Mexico, Museum safehouse (6 weeks after Rosie and Kiki's rescue)

Grant stared out the window of the safehouse he, Sakura, Kara, and Demon were staying while they were trying to gather intelligence about HYDRA and KHAOS' movements. This was the first time he had left his daughters since he and his team rescued them from the joint HYDRA and KHAOS. It had been hard to leave them; Kiki was crying for him in Wynne's arms while Rosie had clung to him and refused to let him go until Stefan had bribed the three year old with pancakes and ice cream for dinner. Stefan and Wynne were watching the girls while he was away since CJ and her husband were helping out at Jessa Foster-Anderson's dig in Greece, while Tommy was on his honeymoon and the rest of his team was tracking down other HYDRA and KHAOS bases.

Grant and his team had been tasked with tracking down a rumor that had to do with KHAOS and HYDRA attempting rebuild Sakura's father's old sword "Tokijin". Grant and the others knew if HYDRA was able to rebuild that sword, no one would be safe. At the moment, Sakura and Demon were pulling surveillance duty as the team's local sources had informed them that Coulson, Fitz, and some new guy were spotted in town. So the pair split up with Demon tailing SHIELD and Sakura watching over the suspected HYDRA base where the pieces of Tokijin were supposedly being studied. Kara meanwhile had agreed to play bait for Coulson and his little group which left Grant here watching their guest. He turned to look at Bakashi, who was staring blankly at the wall.

The Museum had managed to get Whitehall's former Number Two transferred into their custody much to General Talbot's extreme annoyance. Grant smirked as he remembered watching Stefan and Wynne ordering Talbot to release Bakashi. It had been an awesome sight watching Wynne threaten to turn Talbot into a frog. He was pulled from his musing by the door to safe house opening as Sakura and Demon walked in.

"Well, that was a fucking waste of time." Demon said, "The damn base was cleared out before we got here. From what we can tell we missed them by about a day."

"In other news Agent Jackass and his group made contact with Kara," Sakura said, using one of the Hellchasers' favorite nicknames for Coulson. She hopped up onto the counter while Demon retrieved bottles of water from the fridge for all three of them. "You should be getting a call any second now."

Grant nodded, "Ok, we stick with the plan. Kara and I will stall Coulson and his merry band of misfits and also see if they know anything about KHAOS. Meanwhile, I want you two to keep trying to find the pieces of Tokijin. My sources in HYDRA tell me List and Von Strucker have it, so have Oracle look at their financials and also real estate records under their names both real and any alias."

Both of his friends nodded before Demon spoke up, "Be careful, man. I don't trust SHIELD, they've let their anger at you consume them." The former FBI profiler met his friend's dark brown eyes. "You and Kara keep your guard up and call for backup up if you need it. There are two little girls waiting for their daddy to come home."

"We will," Grant replied, bumping a fist with Demon's before giving Sakura a quick hug. "You both stay safe and I'll see you back at base."

Sakura shared a look a look with Demon before replying, "We will now go give them Hell, Hellfire."

Grant smirked before he turned on his heels and left the safe house.

Arctic Base (minutes after Simmons' attempt to kill Grant)

Grant raced through the HYDRA base quickly and efficiently after he had left Simmons and Skye. He could feel his heart hardening even more against his former love and the scientist he once might have seen as a little sister. May's words about trauma kept ringing in his head and he knew next time he saw his former teammates he would throw those words back in her face while calling the team out for the hypocrites they had become. He knew not one of them knew just how much blood, sweat and tears he had given to keep the world safe from the threat posed by HYDRA and KHAOS.

He paused at the entrance to a new hallway he knew led to the hanger, thanks to Oracle, and was horrified to see a creature he hoped never to see again. The creature was massive with horns and he could smell the decay and sulfur that clung to it. 'Fuck,' he thought, 'what's an Ogre doing outside of Thedas?' This was not good, if KHAOS had access to Ogres and other creatures like them, then humanity had quite a bit to be worried about. He took a deep breath and summoned the fire that gave him his code name. Once a baseball sized flame appeared in his hand, Grant hurled it at the Ogre, making the creature howl in pain. Then, not wasting a minute, Grant pulled out his gun and started shooting the creature.

"G, what the hell is going on down there?" Demon's voice said over his comm.

"We got a massive problem," Grant replied as he rolled away from the Ogre that was now reaching for him and replaced his empty clip. "Seems KHAOS recruited a little muscle from the Deep Roads." He continued firing at the hulking beast before his gun emptied once again.

"Well, hurry up and get your ass out of there. SHIELD just called in the air strike. That base is about to blow," Demon replied back, "Sakura and I are ready for your extraction."

"Alright, I'm on my way." Grant took a deep breath and summoned one more ball of fire and unleashed it at the Ogre as he ran past the creature and out the hanger door. He chanced a glance and saw to his relief that the Ogre had finally collapsed and the flames were slowly consuming it. Fire alarms had begun to go off as he finally made it outside of the base. He turned back and saw the plane he knew was carrying his former teammates take off from the opposite side of the base. "I'm out and heading to the extraction point now."

Long Beach Island, NJ (two days later)

The sun was slowly rising over the Atlantic Ocean as Grant jogged along the beach with Ares at his side. The crisp cool ocean breeze felt good this early in the morning. After he had gotten back to base last night with Demon and Sakura, the Council had given them and the others two weeks of R and R. So Grant decided to take advantage of the vacation time and go back down to Long Beach Island (or as the locals call it, LBI).

Beach Haven hadn't changed much since he was a little kid and already Gramsy was talking about taking the girls to Fantasy Island Amusement Park and Bay Village. He had to remind her that the Amusement Park wouldn't be opened til the weekend since it wasn't officially summer yet. He had loved coming down here with Gramsy, CJ, and Tommy when they were little. The house his grandfather and Gramsy bought when they got married had always been a welcome escape since Christian and his aunt and uncle hated it down here, preferring to stay either in the Hamptons or in Martha's Vineyard.

About forty minutes later, Grant was hosing off Ares in the backyard to get rid of any sand or sand fleas the lab Shepard mix may have picked up while they were running on the beach. The pair made their way into the house, Ares heading over to his dog bed in the living room and Grant to the kitchen to begin making breakfast. Today, he and Gramsy were going to take the girls to the beach for some fun in the sun.

The sound of babbling from over the baby monitor on the counter brought a smile to his lips. It sounded like Kiki was up, so he decided to grab her before she woke up Rosie. Quietly making his way upstairs to the girls' room, his smile grew as he saw Kiki laying on her stomach looking at him. "Good morning, my little moon," he whispered as he picked her up, "you hungry?"

Kiki snuggled close to him as he carried her back downstairs and put her in her Winnie the Pooh swing, turning it on before he went back to making breakfast for everyone. The six month old reached up to play with the Pooh and Tigger toys that hung down in front of her. Her giggles and baby babble were music to Grant's ears as he set to work making pancakes, bacon and fresh fruit for his family's breakfast.

A few moments later Ares perked up from his dog bed as Gramsy's bedroom door opened and she entered the living room. When Kiki saw her great grandmother, she forgot all about Pooh and Tigger and reached out for Gramsy. Gramsy laughed as she picked up the six month old and proceeded to sit down on the couch before she turned on the news. Ares got up and padded over to the couch and settled down at Gramsy's feet. " Good morning, my little Moon," Gramsy said before she tickled Kiki's belly, causing the little one to laugh.

Grant stepped into the living room for a moment. "Morning, Gramsy," he said, kissing his grandmother's check, "Breakfast is ready."

"Thank you, darling," Gramsy said with a smile before she carried Kiki to the back porch where breakfast was all set up. Suddenly, the door leading to the second floor opened and a pair of tiny feet could be seen carefully making their way down.

"Daddy," Rosie called as she reached the bottom of stairs looking as adorable as ever in her Merida PJs and clutching her favorite stuffed animal Ruru tightly.

Grant smiled as he walked over to Rosie and picked her up. "Good morning, Princess. Are you hungry?"

Rosie nodded sweetly, wrapping her arms around her father's neck.

"Well, let's go eat then," he said, walking to the back porch and putting Rosie in her chair. Kiki was already in her high chair with Gramsy feeding her rice cereal. Grant headed back into the kitchen once Rosie was settled and brought his oldest daughter's breakfast.

Rosie's eyes lit up when she saw her favorite breakfast. "Thank you Daddy," she said as Grant put her plate down in front of her.

"No problem, Princess," he replied before turning to Gramsy, "Gram go get your breakfast, I'll finish up with Kiki."

"It's fine dear," Gramsy motioning for him to eat, "she's almost done and then I'll eat."

Grant shrugged, knowing his grandmother was stubborn and there was no way to talk her out of anything. He went and grabbed a plate for himself and Gramsy from the kitchen. Once back at the table he sat down and began eating. As breakfast went on, Grant and Gramsy began discussing the plans for the day while Rosie and Kiki happily ate.

Afterlife, Midnight

Jiaying stood in her office looking out at over the various homes that made up Afterlife.

"Hello, Jiaying," a figure cloaked in shadows said from the corner, causing the leader of the Inhumans to turn and face her guest.

"What are you doing here, Melinoe?" she hissed at the young girl with black and white hair and soulless silver eyes.

"Oh don't be like that, Jiaying," Melinoe said in a sickeningly sweet childlike voice. "I'm merely here to deliver a message from my Queen."

"Well, what is it?" Jiaying asked, trying to suppress the feeling of dread that she felt anytime she was in the young girl's presence.

"Remember your vows, Jiaying." Melinoe said, taking a step forward. "What you were given back can be taken away just as quickly as it was returned." With her message delivered, Melinoe faded back into the shadows, leaving Jiaying once again alone with her thoughts.