Chapter Four: The Danger is I'm Dangerous

Grant wondered how SHIELD accomplished anything with such pitiful reaction times. He had been waiting for the response team for their little trap for almost an hour now. Perched six stories up in a building that allowed for a perfect view of the courtyard, Grant was ready for whenever they finally arrived. His sniper rifle had been carefully arranged and aimed.

Ward was a patient person. Years of training as a specialist did that to you. It did not hurt that he had spent five years of his life in the middle of nowhere Wyoming waiting for Garrett to tell him he was ready to leave. Grant could wait long periods of time without ever breaking his concentration. This op however was putting him on edge.

Maybe it was the knowledge that if everything went according to plan, John could be healed within days. To be so close to the goal they had been working towards for over a decade gave Ward a rush. After Garrett was cured, everything would change. They would not need Hydra anymore.

There was something else bothering Ward though. He had no reason to suspect anything would go wrong, but it was like a tickling sensation on the back of his neck. It was probably just because unlike the usual missions that Ward did for Hydra, this op actually mattered.

A black SUV pulled up and parked at the corner between an alley and the main drag. It could not have been more obviously SHIELD if they had slapped their ugly eagle insignia on the side of the car. Ward peered through the lens of the rifle to get a view of the targets. There were five of them, three in tactical gear. That must make the other two the scientists.

Before he could determine anything more, the Hydra agents on the ground began shooting. Overeager idiots. Ward could have ended this in seconds if they had given him the chance. Three quick shots and the SHIELD agents would be dead before they realized what they just walked into. Now all of them were on their guard, hidden behind their vehicle and out of his range.

Ward activated his comm unit. "Stand down and wait for my instructions," he ordered. The firing stopped immediately. As keen as they were to earn Garrett's favor, the men were more worried about angering him. It paid to have the reputation of a terrifying pariah sometimes.

The civilian population was in chaos down below, but there was no movement as far as he could tell from SHIELD. Ward scanned the crowd below to find his next targets. Traveling alone, far from SHIELD, frozen in panic, he selected two civilians on opposite ends of the courtyard. Two quick shots to non-lethal areas later, and Ward prepared himself for the inevitable.

SHIELD agents were stupidly noble. Even the ones that were hypocrites, and that was most of them, pretended to be serving some sort of higher power or something. Two injured civilians bleeding to death would be too much for at least one of the field agents to ignore. All he needed is one to take the bait, the rest would follow like dominoes in a row.

As he thought that, one of the agents ducked out from under their protection to make a run for the female civilian. Got you. He waited a couple more seconds for her teammates to follow her lead, and he was not disappointed when they sprinted after her almost instantly.

He clicked his comm link on one more time. "Kaminsky, Hauer, the scientists are unprotected, move in," Ward ordered. "Then retreat."

Even as he spoke evenly, Ward lined up his shot on the SHIELD agent who first abandoned the SUV. The agent was putting pressure on female civilian's wound and glancing around for threats. Looking through the scope, Ward was pressing down on the trigger for the perfect head shot when the agent turned her searching looks towards him and inadvertently revealed her face.

Ward recognized her at once. Despite trying to forget their strange encounter from last month, he had Agent Skye's face memorized. She had the same stubbornly determined look on her face from before. It was as though she was daring anyone to try and stop her from doing what she wanted.

Ward had already begun pressing down on the trigger before recognizing her, but he somehow found his grip loosening. A quick glance back towards the van saw that Kaminsky and Hauer had successfully rendered the scientists unconscious. That made their mission a success.

Even as he considered that, Ward decided he could be honest with himself. He was justifying allowing Agent Skye to live yet again. That was not acceptable. He could not afford such weak sentimentality.

Ward lined up his shot once more and stared down the scope in preparation. Minutes passed and he still had not pulled the trigger. It was unsettling. He found himself thinking back to when he stared down a gun at another clueless target. He let Buddy go then, this was his chance to prove he had overcome his weakness.

Still, he did not pull the trigger.

As he watched unable to end her life, the object of his uncertainty came to a realization of her own. She spun around to look at the SUV, and Ward knew she had put the pieces of their trap together. She seemed intelligent albeit prone to impulsive choices, so it was unsurprising.

SHIELD had figured it out. It was time to go. Ward packed up his equipment efficiently and was gone before anyone even noticed his presence. If he felt any relief at having an excuse to spare the SHIELD agents below, he buried it ruthlessly.

Ward had checked in with Garrett to assure him that the mission was a success. John was back at HQ while Ward had followed his team to a nearby base to interrogate the prisoners.

Garrett had grown more cautious as of late. Recently he opted to stay in HQ rather than go into the field more often than not. Most of the agents assumed that Garrett could not be bothered to leave anymore when he could just delegate to Ward. After all, Ward's success rate spoke for itself. Why would Garrett have any need to get involved personally? Ward was the only one who knew the truth. John's health was rapidly deteriorating, and John could not risk a firefight with an EMP. He was not up to his usual standard as well with the Centipede serum only barely making him functional.

He was relying on Ward now more than he ever had before, and Ward felt the deadline resting on his shoulder at all times. He could not let John down after everything the man had done for him. He was counting on Grant to do what he could no longer.

With those thoughts in mind, Grant entered into the base. As he walked down the hallway towards the interrogation room, he contemplated how he wanted to handle the matter. Before he had finished mapping out the details of his plan however, he started hearing the screams.

"Tell me about the drug," a voice that sounded suspiciously like it belonged to that idiot Kaminsky ordered.

"Fitz! No, please! He doesn't know! I told you he doesn't know! We don't know anything! Fitz! Fitz!" There was a woman's voice yelling hysterically and a male one as well joining hers. Nothing was decipherable with his voice though, it was incomprehensible screams of pain.

Ward sped up and burst through the door of the occupied interrogation room. The sight he was met with was exactly what he was expecting and exactly what he had hoped was not happening.

The two scientists each had one hand handcuffed to the wall on opposite ends. They were far enough away from each other that they could not hope to stretch to the other. The female scientist was ignoring that in favor of rubbing her wrist raw in her attempts to reach her companion. One arm was outstretched, fingers flexing as though if she just tried hard enough the distance would be closed. Ward did not know what she thought she could accomplish even if she did reach him but the effort was admirable.

The male scientist's free hand was currently in Kaminsky's grip. Of his five fingers, only the thumb had been spared from Kaminsky's machinations. The twisted angles of the other four had each finger pointing in different directions. The male scientist was silently crying in between his cries of pain. The look in his eyes though was not of hurt or even anger or hatred. The kid was staring resolutely at Kaminsky as if he were trying to prove he was strong enough to not look away. It was the kind of pointless show of determination that reminded Ward of Skye, which was the last thing he wanted to be thinking of at the moment.

Ward let the door bang against the wall when he threw it open. Kaminsky and the two others in the room turned to face him at once. Kaminsky dropped the kid's hand roughly causing him to let out another repressed whimper before clutching his mangled hand to his chest.

"Sir!" Kaminsky said startled before he seemed to regain his composure. "Hail Hydra!" He performed that ridiculous little salute and paused with his hands still raised waiting for Ward's response.

Grant said nothing. He glared at Kaminsky and allowed his expression to show just how murderous he felt at the moment. It must have worked, too, because Kaminsky's face drained of its color and his saluting hands shook. When Ward made no move to answer, Kaminsky slowly lowered his hands with his eyes always on Grant as if going to fast would startle Ward into killing him.

"What the hell were you doing?" Ward demanded.

"Sir?" Kaminsky stumbled. "We were-" He looked to the two other Hydra agents in the hopes of support but found none. "I was trying to warm them up for you."

Ward's glare deepened. He knew what Kaminsky was trying to do. The idiot was so overeager running around enthusiastically trying to win his superiors' favor. Maybe Kaminsky was trying to ingratiate himself to Ward, but he was betting that the real target of approval was Garrett. A subordinate eager to please might have been a good trait if Kaminsky was not such a moronic failure in everything he did.

Ward gave a dark, close-lipped smile. The expression only served to terrify all three agents more, but that was Ward's goal anyway. He casually walked towards the table where the scientists' files were placed. He picked them up and deliberately flipped through them. It was all for show though, Ward had them memorized before the op began.

Besides the rustling of the papers and light sniffling from the male scientist, the room was silent. Finally, without looking up from the files, Ward spoke. "Kaminsky, can you read?"

From the corner of his eye, Ward could see Kamisky tense even more. He was shooting glances at the other operatives probably trying to get a clue as to how to respond.

"Sir?"

"It's a simple question really." Ward stopped flipping through the files. "I asked if you can read, Kaminsky?"

"Yes," came the hesitant response.

"And you read the files on the prisoners?"

"Yes."

"And you still chose to move quickly into physical incentives on scientists that aren't even combat cleared?" Kaminsky stuttered a bit, but Ward kept going. "And you still chose to ask the engineer about the nature of a drug that supposedly has regenerative properties?"

"What?"

"You asked the engineer as opposed to the biochemist?" Ward continued incredulously. The sniffling behind him now sounded a little like repressed snickering, but Ward would deal with that later.

"They're both scientists, I don't understand." Yes, Ward was getting just how little Kaminsky understood.

"They are, but one of them is actually a biochemist and far more capable of answering questions regarding the specifics of a drug like GH-325. The file specifies which one was which," Ward flipped it around so it faced Kaminsky. "Look, it even has pictures to help you."

Kaminsky looked a second away from having a heart attack. Ward did not feel an ounce of sympathy. He opened his mouth as if to say something in his pitiful defense, but Ward cut him off. He had made his point, Kaminsky would never try anything on one of his ops again. Now he just wanted the man gone. "Out." Kaminsky was out the door quicker than Ward thought possible. He looked at the other two idiots. One of them started to say that he took no part as if standing around doing nothing was an accomplishment, but Ward interrupted him. "You, too." They left and shut the door behind them.

With the room cleared of those nuisances, Ward turned his attention towards the silent scientists. The biochemist was still fumbling with her handcuffs in an attempt to loosen them.

"Don't bother," Ward said. "You can't escape, so stop trying."

The woman looked up at him caught. She glanced at her jiggling wrist as if surprised to see it was attached to her body. "What? Escape?" She laughed slightly hysterically. "I'm not trying to escape, why would you say that?" Her voice was squeaking by the end of it.

Ward narrowed his eyes. What kind of act was she pulling? Was she trying to lull him into a false sense of security by pretending to be incapable of lying? As he stared at her trying to figure out her intentions, she began squirming under the scrutiny. And then she opened her mouth.

"And why would I want to escape? The floor is so comfy and, wow, is that a nice vest!" She proclaimed looking at his tactical vest. "I really like your vest. It's very… becoming on a man like you. I don't mean especially on you but anyone really. Not that you don't have nice taste or physique. No, wait that's not it…" It was like watching a train wreck.

"Jemma, stop," the engineer hissed to her. "You're making it worse."

"Oh, be quiet, Fitz!"

Unbelievable, the biochemist was the worst liar Ward had ever met. That made Kamisky's actions even stupider, but it also made Ward's job a lot easier.

The scientists had dissolved into some kind of argument that threw Ward a bit. The mood swings were hard to keep up with. Were all of Coulson's team so emotional and easily riled up? The image of Skye came and went in Ward's mind before he focused on his mission.

"Dr. Simmons, do you know what's the composition of the drug GH-325?" Both of them abruptly stopped talking as if they had suddenly remembered the predicament they were in.

Reminded of the question that caused her friend so much pain, the biochemist suddenly grew angry. "No, I don't. I told your Hydra friends, I don't know what is in the drug. We used all of it on Skye, and I was never able to analyze it properly before you Hydra scum destroyed SHIELD." She had sneered the name Hydra at him as if it were a curse. Contempt and rage dripped from her words.

Multiple thoughts hit Ward all at once. He believed her. Even without witnessing what he would always remember as the worst attempt at duplicity from any intelligence organization operative, he was good at reading people. She was telling the truth, she really did not know what was in the miracle drug. Following that realization came the disappointment of knowing that he still did not know how to save Garrett.

The final thing that struck Ward was Skye. Lately everything felt like it came back to her. She was the reason why he failed that mission in Seville. She was the reason Hydra did not have an obelisk. She was the reason Garrett was staring at him strangely. She was the reason why the SHIELD field agents from this morning lived to see another day. She was the reason that for the first time in fifteen years, Ward was having trouble concentrating on Garrett's goal.

And now it seemed it all came together. The biochemist did not appear to realize what she had just given away, but she had revealed so much more than she thought. Coulson was not the only one to have been saved by the drug. There were probably trace amounts of it still in her bloodstream, too. They could never hope to capture Coulson because like Garrett he had taken to staying their base while his operatives went on missions. Skye on the other hand would be easy to grab, easier than the scientists were probably, with all the time she spent in the field. Ward could take her in and have Raina and her team examine her blood. They would not even need SHIELD's research.

An image flashed in his mind of the girl who had laid beneath him teasing him with her lips and retorts transformed into the same girl strapped to bed while Raina, Whitehall and other Hydra scientists picked her apart until nothing was left. It was not a welcome thought, but that did not mean that Ward was not duty-bound to use this information for Garrett. To do otherwise would be a betrayal to the man who had practically raised him.

Maybe he could wait and see if any other options arose. If Garrett got worse, Ward could always retrieve Skye then. It did not have to be now. It was always possible that Raina would figure it out, too. It felt like he was justifying to himself again, but Grant already felt the strange feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach dissipate at his new plan. Besides, he had already gone out of his way to spare her multiple times now, so why stop now? He was just following through with his earlier decision.

"Um excuse me?" Ward startled out of his reverie to see the biochemist attempting to get his attention. Ward wondered what expression he had allowed to bleed onto his face while contemplating his options because both scientists were eyeing him oddly.

"What is it?" Ward attempted to sound angry but it rang hollow and tired even to his own ears. The disappointment and revelations of the day had drained him.

"If I could just have a look at Fitz's fingers…" she began uncertainly.

"I'm not releasing you," Ward said immediately. He may be acting weaker than usual, but he was not that far gone yet. He did not think the scientist posed a threat but that was not the point.

"Please, if I don't set them correctly then his hand may never function properly again," she persisted with that obnoxious determination that Ward was beginning to think was a shared trait among SHIELD agents.

"You say that like you think you'll leave here alive," Ward replied cruelly. He watched the horror on their faces and allowed it to wash over him. He needed to refocus himself. Feeling strange connections with more SHIELD agents was the last thing he wanted at the moment. He needed to remember who he was and what his purpose was.

He had successfully shut the biochemist up. She was glaring at him with as much hatred as she had Kaminsky. That was for the best. It was the engineer that gave him pause. He looked Ward straight in the eyes with a jutted chin and no fear in his eyes. "I'm not afraid," he said in a wobbly voice. After a second of meeting his gaze, the engineer turned towards his distressed partner.

"It's okay, Jemma. It doesn't even hurt really," he spoke soothingly. His entire focus was on reassuring his companion with no thought to himself and what this would mean to him. Neither scientist seemed to care about their own wellbeing half as much as they cared about each other's. Ward wondered what it would be like to have someone that cared about him that much. No person had ever valued Ward over themselves. He felt a twinge of longing that he repressed. That was why he was here and doing all of this, to save the only person who ever gave half a damn about Grant.

Ward decided that if he was going to be weak, he may as well indulge the impulse fully. Tomorrow he could lock all that pathetic sentimentality away in the corners of his mind, today he was not ready to.

Ward approached the engineer and sat down in front of him. Even with them both sitting, he was still considerably taller than the scientist. "Hand," he demanded. When the man hesitated, Ward impatiently continued, "I mean I could always grab it but that would jar the broken fingers."

The engineer extended his damaged hand with the kind of trust Ward knew he did not deserve. Ward examined them without putting any pressure on the fingers. While Grant was no medic, he did know how to fix this. If there was one thing he had experience with, it was being broken.

"On the count of three," Ward told the engineer. While the man was nodding in reply, Ward set the first finger.

"Ow bloody hell, what is your-" Ward set the next finger and got more cursing in response. He waited until the engineer had recovered and was looking at him suspiciously. The second Ward saw the tension lessen, he set the third finger. "Give a guy some-" and finally the last finger.

The engineer was glaring at him fiercely. Ward let go of the hand of swollen fingers so the man could cradle it protectively to him.

"Why even bother telling me you were going to count first?"

"Someone once told me if you're not expecting it, it hurts less." That was true, but Ward was so accustomed to pain and he set his own fingers, so he had no experience there.

"Well they bloody lied to you!" The engineer declared, but he looked better already. The rigidity of his posture caused by pain had all but disappeared. He was still in pain, but now it was more comfortable allowing the engineer to better put on a show for the biochemist. "See, Simmons? Nothing to worry about."

The biochemist's brow was furrowed. "How do we even know he set them correctly?"

Strangely Ward found himself offended, how incompetent did they think he was? He said nothing and dedicated his thoughts to more important matters. The scientists clearly had no more knowledge of the drug than he did. This entire mission was a waste with nothing to show for it, and John was going to unhappy. He briefly toyed with the idea of telling him about Skye. If he did, John would not be disappointed because Ward would have found something worthwhile. He crushed the notion quickly. There was still time, he did not need to involve the mysterious SHIELD agent yet. He would deal with that when the time came.

Surveying the two scientists, Grant wondered what he should do with them. They did not have any useful information. They would never willingly work for Hydra, Ward read their loyalty to both their organization and each other easily enough. Turning them over to Whitehall for brainwashing would make sense if Ward cared even a little bit about Hydra and Whitehall. But he did not, and he knew Garrett would not want him handing anything Garrett had over to Whitehall anyway. John would see it as a show of weakness that made it seem like Garrett saw Whitehall as his superior. That left few options.

Garrett would expect him to tie up loose ends. The scientists did not really know much, but it was not in John's nature to show mercy. It was not something Ward indulged in either. Sixteen years under John's tutelage allowed Ward to break free of the weaknesses that had held him down his entire childhood.

As he considered the inevitable, Ward watched the biochemist fidget with her free hand in her jacket pocket. It was a nervous gesture if Ward had ever seen one. Wordlessly, Grant strode over and forced the biochemist's hand open to reveal a tiny, blinking black device that Ward recognized instantly.

Ward felt like an idiot. He had stupidly assumed that Kaminsky and the others would have checked the prisoners, but he really should not have. They had already proved to be morons. This was why Ward never trusted anyone, people were not dependable. Intentionally or unintentionally, eventually they always let you down.

But it was more than just his assumptions with the Hydra agents. He underestimated his enemies. He looked at the two scientists, terrible liars and overly emotional, and forgot that they were SHIELD agents and geniuses. The guilty expressions on their faces at being found out were almost comical but the only one Ward felt like laughing at was himself.

He quickly searched the two scientists against their protests and found a matching device in the engineer's pocket as well. Grant crushed the trackers underneath his boot, but the damage was done. If SHIELD was not already on top of them, they would be soon.

Ward drew his gun from his holster. The scientists tensed in response, but he paid them no mind. They were not his concern. Now that he was listening, Ward could hear muffled noises from outside the interrogation room. Silently and without another glance towards the prisoners, Grant left. He kept the door open a crack and moved into a blind corner. If anyone tried to come down this way, he would kill them before they knew what happened.

Only minutes later Ward heard the light pattering of footsteps someone was trying to keep silent. The second they moved into his sightline, he struck. A swift kick to the enemy's hip knocked them sideways into the wall. Ward had them pinned face first with his gun pressed to their temple before they could recover. The woman began struggling instantly but Ward had a firm lock on her. That was not the problem.

The problem was the figure pushing back against him was familiar. For the second time in a month, Grant found himself pressed up against SHIELD Agent Skye, and she looked pissed.

So what do you think? I feel nervous about posting this chapter, so any feedback would be great. How were the characterizations and Ward/Fitzsimmons interactions? I know there's no Skye POV, but it just didn't fit. We'll get a peek into her head next chapter though. Please review!

Chapter title comes from Gin Wigmore's song "Kill of the Night". Thanks everyone who reviewed!