Skye came to, her short-term memory working as well as ever as she recalled what situation she was in.
A situation that could be summed up as being in deep shit.
Looking around, things hadn't gotten better since she'd been unconscious.
Her whole team was there, new ones included. They were there and captured, tied tight as Christmas ribbons. Bobbi and Hunter were on theirs knees with hands and feet bound. They'd removed Coulson's hand and restrained him in a way that would accommodate for the lack of such. May was still knocked out, and Skye wondered if this was on purpose… Ward wouldn't be known to underestimate her. Fitzsimmons were back to back in bindings and Skye realized she was as well.
"Skye, you're awake?"
She strained behind herself to see Campbell staring at her. She wasn't just tied to him but Joey as well.
"Yeah," she whispered, unable to keep herself from tugging at the rope over her hands and legs.
"Don't bother," he said. "It's too tight."
She sighed. "Figured. Can't you like… spark 'em off or something, Campbell?"
"No," he told her. "They put something on us to stop our powers." He lifted up his chin, revealing a thick bronze collar sort of thing. Skye jutted her chin down to rest on her chest and felt the same thing on her own person. "And feel free to call me by my first name, seeing as we're about to die and all…"
Skye's heart plummeted and she felt tears she fought to repress. They were going to die. Ward and this Hydra organization were apparently going to shoot them all in the head and take over SHIELD, all because of her.
The only question was… why hadn't they done it yet?
"Ah kid, we aren't going to kill you."
Skye perked herself up at the sound of the voice.
Ward knelt down to be on their eye level. "Why would I bother with this fancy jewelry if I was just going to cross you off?" Ward asked, thumbing the collar on Lincoln's neck absentmindedly, until he belatedly jerked away. "Hydra doesn't kill assets. In fact, they promised me an inhuman army. Clearly I need to help them build it…"
"We're not going to help you, whatever's possessing you or this weird Nazi organization!" Skye hissed.
He smirked at her. "Oh, you will. Once my soldier takes away your memories, you'll wake up in a world where the only enemy you know is SHIELD, hunting your kind." He chuckled. "You'll be running into my arms just to find a new family, won't you?"
"You can replace our memories?" Joey asked, terrified.
"No," Ward replied. "We can erase your memories. And when you wake up with none, in this facility clearly meant for holding inhumans after having been cruelly experimented on, you'll be begging to let the people who saved you take you in."
"We've never been experimented on!" Joey protested.
"Not yet," Ward said, twirling his finger as a signal while he stood. Two soldiers moved over to them, separating the bonds that connected them and slicing the ones at their feet so they could be pushed around. "We just have to set up a little scene to make our story more believable. These SHIELD scientists seem quite willing to help play a part once I show them my abilities."
"Ward, please!" Skye shouted as she thrashed in some Hydra soldier's grip. "You have to be in there. Try to fight this!"
"The Ward you knew doesn't exist, Skye," Bobbi called to her. "Just accept that this possessed version is even a more glorified jerk than the first."
"Oh look," Ward said, waltzing over to Morse. "Someone's volunteering to be the first SHIELD agent to die."
"Don't you touch a bloody hair on her head!" Hunter shouted.
Ward's hand thrust out like a viper, weaving his fingers into Bobbi's scalp and pulling her cruelly to her feet. His men trained their guns at her.
He shrugged. "Whoops."
Hunter had a minor freak out trying to loosen his way free, while Ward turned back to Skye. "I would say that I blow this Ward guy out of the water when it comes to disciplining through harsh means," he paused to send a harsh punt from his boot to Hunter's nose, "but honestly, I don't know if that would be the truth. Do you know he stuck needles through this woman's fingertips?"
He shoved Bobbi's head into the wall, leaving her to fall heavily to the floor as he moved on from her.
"Stop," Skye mouthed, to horrorstruck for words to manifest.
He breathed in deeply, over the two wounded people, as though smelling. A moment later Skye knew that's what he'd been doing. He dabbed at Bobbi's blood from the wall until it was on his fingertips and brought it to his nose, inhaling.
He began moving until he stopped in front of Fitzsimmons who, to their credit, did not flinch away at all. Their chests were puffed and shoulders back. "These were supposed to be his best friends, right? Well, he plopped them into the ocean, no foreseeable way out. It caused this one brain damage." He flicked Fitz on the nose, though Leo had been expecting much worse and had flinched away as Simmons made to bite Ward. She missed, thank god. Skye was sure she'd have been left with much worse than teeth marks from the retaliation of such.
"Slept with this one under false pretenses… which, if I recall by your laws, is some sort of sexual abuse? That's seems ridiculous, but, eh." He stepped over May.
Waltzed right up to Coulson. "And of course, let's not forget the fearless director. Ward not only betrayed this man's entire team, killed countless people that included his friends, but also his lover. For no reason other than spite! From streets away, nonetheless. Very impressive." He chuckled. "One of my favorite memories from this body, in fact."
Skye thought she was going to be sick. Coulson's eyes held bloodlust, and she could not blame him.
"So you might all call me the creature, a monster, but I think you just traded one for another," he said. "And look on the bright side, with Grant Ward looking so hard for closure, none of you would have made it out alive. At least this way a few of you will."
"Why are you telling us this?" Skye asked. Except, pretty much everyone there already knew all this stuff.
Besides Skye.
"Why are you telling me this?" she quietly whimpered.
The incessant smile that had been hard pressed on Ward's face the entire time disappeared, leaving no trace of such as he tilted his head. Skye saw a wave of confusion, or doubt, perhaps.
But it flickered away like a candle.
He waved his hand. "Take my new soldiers away. Restrain them on an operating table or something… needs to be convincing. We'll send in Jason soon."
"Yes sir," came a chorus from the drones Ward had hired. Or Hydra had hired. How long had some thing been possessing him? "I need to finish business with these agents… my way."
Skye hopped backwards in the soldier's grip as she saw Ward advance on her friends. "No, don't!" She rammed her elbow backwards into the soldier's gut, freeing herself enough to run to Ward. He allowed her to approach, curious as to her actions more than anything. He stared at her, intrigued.
"Don't kill them please," she begged. "Whoever's in there… please do not kill them!"
"Let's go," shouted the masked man who she'd gotten away from. He held her rougher and tighter now.
"Don't kill them!" she shouted one last time, just before she was ushered out of sight.
Skye was separated from Joey and Lincoln. Lincoln had become wildly upset over the fact and began bucking, but Skye was too numb to be bothered by the isolation. Ward's declarations of his sins had been enough to dull her care for herself.
No wonder they hadn't told her.
She felt herself dive deep and hide in the depths of her own self, unbothered by being told to lie on a metal table. Not struggling when faceless men strapped her in. Not flinching when the restraints pinched at her skin.
Everything about her change of personality made sense. No, it wasn't just Ward's betrayal that had changed her style, her training focus, her name, but it hadn't just been this Hydra reveal either. She felt herself slowly becoming stone as she sat on the cold table thinking of the ways someone she had trusted with her life multiple times had been lying, and she realized she must have gone through it before.
It wasn't just someone she trusted with her life, it was someone she cared for. It was just some silly crush really, but she saw the way he'd looked at her.
Had she ever touched him the way she'd always dreamt? Had her fantasies become reality? If they had, she'd have felt violated along with angry and distraught when finding out his true allegiances. Now she wasn't even permitted to be aware of how deep the betrayal had been driven.
Though it certainly felt forced into her heart.
"There's our girl."
Skye took her time moving her eyes to glare up at the newcomer. It was not Grant Ward, nor the thing that was currently inhibiting him. She didn't know this man.
"You slipping out of our grasp caused General Hive to become quite angry."
Skye raised a brow, attempting to muster up the best "wtf" look she could.
The white-haired man smiled. "Well, you clearly know he's no longer Grant Ward. Whether 'Hive' is his true moniker or not, it's the name he prefers. Mine, by the way, is Gideon Malick."
Skye didn't respond, instead deciding not to even bother looking at this creep and stared at the ceiling.
He began pacing, perhaps to show that he did not mind her initiating the broken eye contact. "You've heard of me, I presume?"
"Nope," Skye said pointedly, still staring up.
"Well then, your team has been keeping quite a lot of information from you since your… happenstance, with Hydra."
You can say that again, Skye thought.
She felt cool hands under her neck, not needing to look down to know he was examining the metal power restrictor. "You know, these aren't just practical, but they have an aesthetic appeal for super-slaves… perhaps we can keep them on. Tell you that despite our best efforts Hydra was unable to remove what SHIELD adorned you with, even if we're able to disable them."
Skye felt his knuckles graze her neck, back and forth, and he clearly waited to get a rise out of her. She couldn't help but scoff. "Could you get your nasty fingers away from me? My bite is worse than my bark, but I'd hate to go that far with those dirty sausages."
He grinned in a way that showed he found nothing but amusement in the comment, but he did stop touching her. So maybe that was like… a point for both of them?
"I can see why Grant Ward liked you, even if you are SHIELD," he commented. "That hatred? That's some Hydra you have in you."
"I have no more Hydra in me than you have a chance of turning me to the dark side of the force," Skye spat. "I don't care if you take away my memories and raise me from a blank slate, I will never be a slave to anyone."
"Whoa whoa whoa, who's talking about slaves?"
Skye felt relief for the briefest of moments at Ward's voice through a knee-jerk reaction, only making her despair at his presence that much worse.
"I don't want slaves," he said offhandedly. Shrugged. "Just soldiers. And those true to the cause, at that."
Skye scoffed. "You have to erase my memories and morals to even have a chance of making me believe in your cause. How is that truthful?"
He stepped in closer to her, looming. She saw the dark shadows under his eyes that used to be so lush. "Your mind has been poisoned, but I can suck the venom out," he explained, pressing a finger to her temple lightly. "If only those people on Maveth could have had the same opportunity… they couldn't see through their own misguided ideas, and they are dead for it!" he shouted. "But now I have the chance to clear your head; to make you understand."
He'd kept repeating that phrase, 'make you understand,' Skye had noted. She had somewhat been keeping track of it because every time he said it, something tugged at her… like something hidden, or forgotten.
Given her current predicament, she decided to pay extra attention to such lost feelings.
Malick walked over to the side and picked something up. "In order to make this convincing, we'll need a few props," Ward- or Hive, really- said simply, as the other man placed an oxygen mask over Skye's face. She played it cool but her worry spiked… she could be knocked out any moment now and not have any remnants of a clue as to who she was the next time she woke.
Malik then held out a scalpel to Ward. "Would you care to do the honors? I know how much you crave bloodshed."
Ward's eyes moved from the knife to her face. She scowled at him. She wasn't going to give this thing the satisfaction of seeing her fear.
"Bloodshed is also very tempting though, and I don't want to hurt my soldiers," he said harshly.
"Ah, it's just a scratch. Overall it will be helpful! Just to heighten her panic for when she comes to…"
"I'm aware," he growled through a short temper. "If we can convince her that others have caused her body pain, perhaps she will understand more easily," Ward said as though reciting. Skye felt her body tense as he snatched the scalpel from Malick with spite.
But there was that word again…
"What if I told you I already understand?" Skye asked, muffled through the mask but clearly audible. "I completely understand your reasoning, even if I don't agree with how you're going about it."
Ward - Hive, Hive! - tilted his head, and moved his hand to lift off the mask when Malick grabbed it. "Do not listen to her… she is trying to manipulate you. Through your host, no less! Don't let echoes of emotions take you over."
Hive squinted, anger crossing his face. Gideon had barely a second to recognize he had said the wrong thing. The inhuman twisted the man's arm.
"Do not, ever, order me to do something," he scolded. "I am your leader, your god. If I want to hear this girl's attempted explanation, that's what I am going to do," he exclaimed, his voice escalating until it was a shout as he threw Malick down. The man gripped his arm, hissing in pain on the floor.
Hive removed the covering from Skye's face as she ripped her eyes away from the writhing man. "What were you saying, girl?"
"Just… that it makes sense. You want to help people see passed their own stupidity. I'm not one for violence but… you think it's necessary. You… obviously had a bad experience in the past with people not listening to you…?"
"And they killed each other off! Yes!" Hive exclaimed with childish excitement, placing his hands on her wrist cuffs and reminding Skye in what odd positions they were in. "You are so kind," he said, running a finger down her face. "You could help me. With our powers, we could become unstoppable."
She nodded shakily. "Exactly. You- you don't need to take any more of my memories."
Ward stopped caressing her. He backed up a foot or two. Stared like a snake.
He chuckled abruptly. "Would you look at you being all manipulative. You are trying to have me let you go so you may find a chance to best me, like you did to Grant Ward."
Skye's heart beat fast. "I didn't… or, I- I don't remember-"
"You don't remember, do you?" Hive echoed slyly. "I wasn't there and you were, yet the memories belong to me and not you. That's ironic, isn't it?"
Skye wasn't sure how to respond. 'Yep, sure is ironic! Glad we could share this laugh before you slice me up and steal my mind.'
Instead she frowned and glared, her default brave face if she had one, while he stared at her. Though soon enough he stopped staring in favor of something else.
"What… what are you doing?" asked Malick as he picked himself up. He stared in disbelief as Hive released Skye from her restraints.
"Seeing how sincere she's being," said Ward, helping Skye to her feet. "I would rather have pure believers if given the choice," he said. "Besides, it's not as though she can do anything to hurt me. Even with her powers… I am unkillable."
"I see," said Malick lightly. Reading between the lines Skye could tell he meant "this is a horrible idea,' and was possibly rethinking allowing a creepy superhuman god run his organization. "And how do you purpose to find that out?
"Oh, just a simple test," he replied, turning to stare at her with an inscrutable smile.
Skye didn't like the sound of that, because she wasn't sure she had the same definition of 'simple' as this man.
Hive took her to a room similar to the one she'd just been in, but no longer was she the one on the operating table. Lincoln was.
He already had the mask on his face, causing his eyes to seem as though they'd grown extra large when they bulged at the sight of her. He was breathing harshly through the thing, made worse from the fresh incisions on his abdomen.
"Daisy?" he asked in puzzlement.
Before she could reply to him, Ward stepped forward. "Do you know this man?" he asked. She nodded.
"Before you took my memories, I knew him well," she said strongly, finally allowing herself to believe it. "We've been getting reacquainted lately." She looked to him fondly.
"Hopefully you didn't get too far because you'll have to start that over again," Ward said lightly. "Jason is about to procure his memories."
Skye watched a soldier come away from the shadows and step towards Lincoln, who automatically began to cringe away. The new man took down his Hydra mask, revealing a young face. Maybe younger than herself.
"Once his memory is gone he will understand just like you do," Ward told her. He came up behind her, pressing his hands into her shoulders. "You understand this sacrifice, right? It's not killing anyone. With this man we will find followers without bloodshed," he cooed, rubbing her shoulders gently. "If you can't handle this, I doubt you will be able to follow me at all."
"No, this makes sense," she said, watching the scene of horror unfolding before her as Jason pressed his fingers to Lincoln's head. She bit her lip, and glanced at Ward imploringly. "But, maybe he could-"
"Watch, Skye," Hive said, taking her chin and directing it Lincoln's way.
"Daisy-Skye, don't let him manipulate you like this!" he shouted. "You were the one fighting for Benny's rights, inhuman's rights… don't I have a right to my memories?"
Ward's lips brushed against her ear. "Just watch… it doesn't take long."
"You would never have let this happen!" Lincoln shouted suddenly. "The old you would have fought. Daisy please, you're not a coward- ah!"
Lincoln's back arched off of the table and he screamed. Wisps of blue energy moved around his head and the Hydra agent's hands. They took their time moving away from him, as if they were difficult to pull out. Skye felt rooted to the spot, as she was impotent to help him she felt unable to move.
"How much do you want me to take?" Jason asked.
"Only take a year and a half. He hasn't been with SHIELD long and we wouldn't want him to be a novice with his powers."
Only a year and half. Like they weren't sucking away his life. His relationships. It was less than she'd lost, but not by much.
Jason nodded, only leaving his fingers at the spot for a few more seconds. He tugged the last strand of whatever he was pulling from Lincoln with a great tug, and the transfer ended. Lincoln relaxed, unconscious.
Skye had to bite her lip to keep from reacting, though if she didn't open her mouth she wasn't sure if she would have cried or screamed.
"Glad you could see that," said Hive calmly. "Now we have to repeat with all the inhumans here. After that, all that's left is to get those SHIELD scientists to play along, and set up a good old Hydra rescue."
"What about the agents without powers?" Skye asked.
Ward smiled at her. "I know you're concerned about your friends. Don't worry, I haven't decided what purpose they'll serve best yet. I do have quite the appetite, though."
Skye stood still, freezing in a jolt of thought. He meant that metaphorically, right? Surely he didn't mean he'd really have them as a main course…
Right?
"Right," she said, finally gulping down the lump in her throat and trying desperately hard to think of a winning argument for how they could be useful to Hydra, preferably without getting their minds blanked in the process. Or worse, apparently. She turned back to Lincoln. "And him? Are you going to take that collar thing off for when he wakes up or…?"
"Not just yet. We want to make sure he isn't too spooked when he returns to the living."
"Oh, makes sense," said Skye. She hid her emotions deep, but disappointment welled up. She needed to see them take it off. She needed to see it so she'd know how to get the one off of herself.
Hive's eyes moved up her body, stopping at the gold around her neck. "You would have liked to see that, wouldn't you?" he asked. Skye didn't like the darkness his eyes were procuring, and had to force herself not to step back. "Wondering if it would be easy to take it off yourself," he stressed, poking her in the chest so she stumbled.
"No," she spat defensively. "I mean, I don't exactly love having a collar on that takes away my abilities-"
"Do you think I am an idiot like your little boy toy, just because I look like him?" he asked, stepping forward and far too into her personal bubble. His voice had gained a rumble to it. "I am a god you insignificant insect."
Well, sheesh. Harsh.
He began advancing on her until Skye was forced to back out of the room. There was murder in his eyes. She glanced around herself, long hallways stretching in either direction.
Strangely, he smiled. It wasn't reassuring though. Far from it. You know that creepy smile with the slow head tilt that serial killer clowns from nightmares tend to do before slicing someone to bits? This was it.
"I don't care how highly this meat suit thought of you," Hive hissed as the unnerving smile remained on his face. "I don't care if these echoes of the dead are tricking me into thinking you're the second coming, for that's me! And I know exactly what to do with you now."
This was an abrupt turn Skye didn't anticipate she'd have to deal with. Not if she'd made it this far. Not if she'd already sacrificed Lincoln's memories.
"I'm going to pick your friends apart piece by piece. Skin them while they still have their voices to scream, the symphony of which will chime through your ears as your powerless body is held beneath my boot," he gloated. "You will all be put in your rightful places of my hierarchy, that of this new age."
Throughout this detailed proclamation, horrifying as it should have been, something sprang to Skye's mind that could be counted as a somewhat surprising first thought.
"You're definitely better with visual imagery than Ward," she muttered.
He grinned. "I'll go one better. After you witness your friends' deaths, I won't even allow you to keep the memory of them. I'm going to rip every happy memory of this found family away from you until you're nothing more than an isolated orphan once again. That's when you'll be chomping at the bit to serve me."
Skye blinked. "What's the point of making me watch if I won't remember it?"
"Well, I'll be able to remember your face when it happens," he said, tilting his head eerily. His eyes were wide with excitement at the prospect. "We don't have to take away my happy memories."
"Valid point... for a sadist," stressed Skye. "One problem, though."
He rolled his eyes. "Yes?"
"I've seen a lot of zombie movies. Honestly, someone probably should have cut me off. They were my thing back in high school. Actually,I must have missed like twenty episodes of the Walking Dead because of this mind blank deal… so thanks for that."
Well, yay! Success on the surprise front. Hive's face finally cleared of the grin and blanked until he appeared as confused as a lost corpse-puppy.
"What?" he inquired softly. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Skye glanced around to make sure the coast was clear. "Well it's because of those that I'm like, ninety perfect sure reanimated dead bodies aren't very fast."
Before Skye could take in the lovely expression of confusion on his face for a moment longer she bolted, sprinting down the hallway. It turned out to be a very long hallway. She did not appreciate this, because Skye would rather have been out of this guy's range of sight. She felt herself move impossibly faster at the terrifying growl of frustration that tore from his mouth and something that sounded like high speed wins on the rise (was that odd, or random? Skye's brain was kind of one-track at the moment). Just as she turned the corner, she heard bullets fire her way. Skye shielded her head.
She slowed down only slightly so she wouldn't pass out from exhaustion when she was in another corridor. Skye moved her hand to her shoulder, clutching it as she heaved. Ow.
Why ow?
"Oh," she breathed.
She'd been shot.
Ok, more like grazed but still… there was blood and it hurt.
More bullets ricocheted off the wall and Skye began to run once again, only stopping once she reached the door to the inhuman's training room. She took in the sight as she filled with hope, accompanied by worry.
"Oh please let this work…" she muttered to herself as she burst forward, still holding her bleeding arm. She went into the observation room, to which a red light promptly flashed.
"Technology: unverified. Technology: disabled."
Skye felt a tiny spark near her neck. Immediately after the shock, she thrust her hand out from where it had been holding her shoulder and towards a table across the room.
It flung up against the wall.
"Yes," she murmured to herself in relief, realizing her powers had been restored. Now to just get Hive in here…
"Skyyyye," she heard the man call. "Let's not play anymore games. You've been shot, Skye. There's no hiding from me now."
Of course, Skye forgot the dude was a freaking bloodhound.
She began to smear her blood all over the walls, dabbing the red liquid from her shoulder and using it as demented finger paint. She let herself into the training room to prepare for him.
Where she was met with three faces.
"Daisy!" called Talia, or Tilly. One of them.
"What is going on?" asked the other. "There was an alarm, and then we were locked inside…"
Benny walked up from a seat he had in the corner. "Daisy, I'm sorry for how I acted. I- I can do better. I promise," he told her sincerely, before his eyes widened at the sight of her shoulder.
One of the twins gasped. "You're bleeding!"
Skye couldn't be bothered to look. "We're in trouble guys. I hate to ask this of you, but I need help. I know you're still learning, and I can't imagine how difficult it must be to try and control your powers. But there is a bad man coming-"
"And you want us to blast him?" asked a twin.
"Yes!" exclaimed Skye.
The other girl covered her face with her hands through a gasp. "You want us to kill someone?" she asked in disbelief.
"He's not actually a someone, he's a something. A something that can't really die so, no, I guess I'm not asking you to kill him. He's actually already dead. Or the body is dead, but it would be great if you could try to kill the thing that's not dead and can't be killed! If he could actually die and you shot enough power to do that, but since he can't maybe the not dying amount of power will be just enough to..."
She trailed off, knowing that the blank faces before her didn't have a clue what she was going on about.
Skye heard the observation room door open with an echoing thud. Hive was closing in.
"Look, I can't explain just…" she sighed. "Do what you can but more importantly, do not let him hurt you.
Skye didn't think they were in too much danger of dying considering they were valuable inhumans, but he had shot at her.
Hive forced himself into the room with two Hydra agents flanking him, guns raised at the inhumans. He tilted his head, observing the scene. His lips twitched.
"More participants for my army…" he mused. His head jerked over towards her in a strange motion. Quick, similar to how bird or reptiles moved. "Thank you for leading me here, Skye."
"They aren't yours," she growled, raising her hands. "Leave them be."
"Come quietly so we won't have to hurt you or your friends. You know we don't want to hurt gifteds, but I will if I must."
Skye pressed out her good arm and vibrated the soldiers' guns to smithereens quick as she could. Then, she blasted all three men against the walls. The two Hydra guys were knocked out immediately, but Hive just laughed.
"And now you can't hurt them," Skye said strongly. She stood in front of the others, hoping to work as their shield if it came to it.
He stopped laughing. "I must say that I'm slightly hurt you think I'm not more resourceful than that. Kudos to getting that inhibitor switched off, though."
"Thanks," she sneered, and turned to the others. "Now!"
They began using their powers full force, all three of them. Ice, heat and wind. Hive's reaction made it seem as though he were being tickled.
"It's not working!" shouted (probably) Tilly.
"We have to destroy him!" screamed Skye. "Remember what I said-"
It was then that Hive donned a serious business face. He raised his hands, and the room began to grow dark.
"What's happening!" screamed Benny.
"I'm scared!" shouted the other twin.
"You can do it!" screeched Skye. "Just remember what I said: you are the only ones who can do this!"
They were clearly terrified and fearing for their lives, but they nodded shakily to one another and moved forward. Skye went with them, pushing her powers forward but more so she would not leave them alone. Benny shouted, his power reverberating out of his mouth and hitting Hive in bursts of wind.
But Hive's storm continued to manifest. Clouds began forming on the ceiling as sand began to blow around them. It was difficult to see. He was getting weaker though, she thought. The sand that was clouding their vision had an origin she hadn't noticed at first: it was made of his skin, leaving only bone.
More and more flew off the man and into the air to create a hazy blanket of mist around their eyes.
So no, Skye could not see if Talia was able to access Ward's blood, make it boil to a point that would cause any normal man to beg for death. She could not tell if when she was done, Tilly ran forward to freeze his skin (Skye was pretty sure the ice twin was Tilly…), the rapid cooling only making the man lose his viscoelasticity and harden that much quicker.
Though in the amount of time it would have taken to do those things, the storm began to subside. In the wake of what had once been Hive (who'd once been Ward) stood a statue.
It hadn't been Ward for a long time though. He was long dead. Though she could not understand why he had done all those terrible things, the things that made her team wanted him dead worse than the devil and why if that was all true even that creature was affected by his feelings for her, she knew there was only one thing to do.
With one powerful push of her powers, he shattered into the air as shards small as dust. It mingled with the remaining sand in the room.
"Was… was that it?" panted Benny. Skye gave him a strangely mangled look.
"It?" Talia voiced her disbelief. "Was that not difficult enough for you-?"
"Ah!" shrieked Tilly. "What is that?"
There was a dark shadow moving, perhaps slithering, across the ground. It slipped under the door. Skye bolted to open the metal hatch as soon as she saw its escape, but whatever the thing had been was nowhere in sight.
That was probably going to bite her in the ass sometime.
They had other problems for now.
"That wasn't 'it', actually," Skye said strongly. Her adrenaline pumped through her like a drug and she could barely feel the dull ache in her arm. "The Cocoon's been infiltrated, though I think they might have underestimated how many people they'd need to bring based on that thing being so confident." Skye pointed at the broken remains. "So if you're up for it, I think we can take it back with just the four of us."
Tilly's mouth sprung open. "We can't… I don't…"
"We can barely control our powers, let alone take down a group of soldiers!" Talia crossed her arms. "No way!"
"Come on girls," Benny said, stepping up. "Daisy has been helping us since day one. She knows what she's talking about."
The twins shared a matching nervous expression, but Talia sighed. "You're right. Daisy hasn't ever let us down."
Tilly nodded. "We're with you, Daisy."
Skye gulped, feeling for a moment that she didn't deserve this praise. This companionship. Maybe Daisy could do those things, could be held accountable to never let someone down, but she wasn't Daisy.
Except… wasn't she?
That was her. With a little more experience maybe, but it was still her. It was Skye's heart with more training to get her body and mind up to the task. Maybe she would become a better leader, a better soldier, but with these people to back her up and the way she'd just fought, Skye felt confident.
She felt like she was being the best of herself.
"Come on you guys," said Daisy. "Let's go be super heroes."
Author's Note: This really needed another once over but it's looong and I couldn't be bothered. Feel free to let me know of mistakes. And THANK YOU AND I LOVE the reviews! Awesome, thank you so much!
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