It's a weird world (part 4)

Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Marvel™.

The stone shells/cocoons/outer skins shattered, showering the small round chamber with impromptu shrapnel. Then, the chamber itself began to break apart, as the stone shelves and columns that had composed it began to move away from each other, to their original positions.

(Outside, Mack stopped fighting Trip and just stopped, falling as if his strings were cut – or something to that effect.)

Skye did not care about this. Her body ached all over; it was especially bad inside her head, where everything felt jumbled and broken up, like pieces of a wrong puzzle – or something similar. She wanted to rest, she want to sleep, she wanted – company, warmth, friends, maybe even love? She did not know about the last part, but she knew-

Skye looked around. There were other people in the same space to her, but they looked busy and one of them was hurt. She knew that she knew who they were. She could not distinguish them in the still-unstable light. She did not care. They looked intimate with each other. For some reason, that hurt. Skye did not want to hurt. She got onto her feet and moved into the bigger chamber. There were more people there, people whom she knew, people who were also hurt, people, whom-

"Daddy?!"

/

Grant Ward felt relief – on physical, literal level. The fire has abated, his pain was gone, and his mind was clearer than it ever was during the last 5 or so years. Silently, speechlessly, he stared at the various pieces of metal that had fallen out of his body due to the Obelisk's power. 4 of those were bullets that Skye had shot him with. The others, however...

"After the disaster in Siberia," he told Raina, who was sitting next to him, looking actually concerned on his behalf (weird, that?) "I told John that I would never walk for Hydra; I would bust him out of Hell if it was needed, but I would never work for Hydra. We did not need Hydra! John agreed, he took me to the future CyberTek office, and there was the chair, and Bakshi, and Whitehall, and then there was this," he pointed to three combined platelets of technology, "in my head." He twitched, as he imploded – he just wanted to curl into a knot and stay there for a while, even if 'here' was an alien temple of some sort. "I lied to Skye. God, I promised I would never lie to her and I lied. John...what had he done to himself and me? What?"

"I don't know, but you'll have the scars to prove it for quite some time," Raina was crouching next to him, rubbing his shoulders and almost cooing. "Plus you have the bits and pieces to remind you. And – I will help?"

"Why?" Grant opened one eye and looked at her, almost shyly, (especially for him).

"Because I want to matter," Raina said softly. "To do that I have to have other people in my life, starting with you. Yes, you have flaws, but I am no prize either; in fact, I was nothing, just a placeholder, until you – helped. Now, maybe I can learn how to help other people, and helping you will be a start."

Grant looked at her, still with just one eye, but there was more of his usual purpose in his gaze now. "Perhaps," he agreed, even as he slowly untangled himself, "but this isn't easy, not if you really care about this. John once called feelings a weakness. He was wrong – but for all the right reasons."

"Fascinating," Raina nodded. "Tell me more."

There were sounds of fighting from the outside; actually, the smaller chamber was mostly gone now, so the outside was just the part of the inside of the bigger chamber.

"Let's go and help," Grant said simply, as he took the metal pieces, put them into his pockets and got onto his feet in one smooth, continuous motion.

"All right," Raina was not feeling equally confident, but she complied – this was as good a starting point as any, after all.

/

Cal Zabo, also known as The Doctor, was not in a good mood. Whitehall was dead, he had not killed him, and now he seemed to be lost, too. This whole alien angle? It was more of Jia's thing, not his, and he-

Suddenly, he found himself in some new chamber. Some people were there already – was Raina one of them? – and there was Coulson (whom he really did not like), and there was his daughter, Daisy, looking as fresh and innocent as a, well, daisy (Cal was not exactly poetic – not for a long time now).

"Daddy?" his daughter spoke in a shaky tone of voice. Cal, naturally, moved forwards. So did Coulson – to intercept him. Cal saw red. Coulson possibly was the better fighter, but Cal was stronger than how he looked, and he did put a lot frustration into his punch, so Coulson flew backwards into the nearest wall and did not get back up.

"Cal? Leave." The voice was not familiar, but not so – Cal vaguely remembered it. It was one of the Hydra agents that had been associated with Coulson, with CyberTek, etc. That man raised his hackles in many ways, and Cal, he had to admit even to himself, he did not exactly want to fight him, so he grabbed his daughter and looked around. The woman known as Melinda May was blocking one of the exits, but the circular chamber had several; Cal grabbed his unresisting daughter by hand and together they ran...

...Grant (and Raina) emotionlessly watched the father-daughter pair retreat in the dark corridors, before turning back to Trip and Mackenzie. "How's he?" he asked Trip, since Mack was out of it, not unlike Coulson.

"I'm not talking to you," Trip gave the man a look. "Neither's agent May, I bet – see?"

"I see that this isn't May," Grant shot back, but his heart was not in the argument (neither was Trip's, actually). "See?"

Now Trip did see the scar on the woman's face, the awkward way she carried herself, very much unlike Melinda May – it was agent 33. He knew that he should do something, but he could not. His fight with Trip cost him this much, especially in terms of energy. He just relaxed himself, hoping that it would be over quick. It was not.

"Doctor Whitehall is dead," agent 33 spoke in that flawed, emotionless voice of hers. "You're the senior Hydra agent here, sir," she turns to Grant. "What are your orders?" Her voice is emotionless, mechanic now, but Grant can swear that he hears the misery in it – agent 33 is not enjoying this, brainwashing or no.

"You and Raina – take Coulson up and start moving to the surface. I and Trip will be after you with the other guy," Grant speaks. Maybe it is just him, but he does not even think about using this for Hydra's advantage, not anymore.

Trip turns and stares at his face for the first time since the old S.H.I.E.L.D. had fallen, and he and Garrett were exposed. "What happened to you?" he asks.

"The alien artefact. You?"

"Mack...but I suspect the alien artefact too," Trip's reply is careful, measured – Grant does not press him. "Let's get Mack upstairs," the other man finally continues. "God, what a mess this is!"

And Grant agrees.

TBC