Chapter Seven (Live Free or Let Me Die)


"Death until the dust, and we're waiting. Ruined in the rust, of our craving. It feels like, it feels like. Don't you know the cost of your betrayal? You're the one that's lost, you're gonna fail. It feels like, it feels like you're gasping with all your might."


Triplett slammed the phone down, "Damn! No answer!" he cursed. He had tried contacting Coulson and May, but he had gotten no answer at all. Coulson usually picked up if May didn't, something was wrong. Very wrong.

He gripped his ICER and turned towards the door. If he wasn't going to get an answer from Coulson and May, he guessed that he should as well protect the base the best he could. And there was no telling how many Hydra soldier were in the base and were surrounding it. He had already taken down four on the way to contact Coulson and May.

'Quick, Trip.' he thought, leaning around the frame of the door. 'What do you do in this situation?' He stepped slowly out into the hallway and crept quietly down the hall, coming up onto a lone Hydra goon.

Triplett smiled softly, 'You take out what comes your way, of course.' he thought, sending two ICER bullets into the soldier's back. The soldier wavered slightly and fell unconscious to the ground.

He continued down the hallway, to where he found Skye creeping around. "Skye, what are you doing by yourself?" he asked. "Where's Lance?"

"He thought he saw something back that way." Skye said, pointing in the opposite direction. "He told me to wait here. Nobody's come this way."

"What did he see?" Triplett asked.

"I don't know, I guess a Hydra soldier or two. They're really spread out, so it's hard to find them." Skye replied.

"You better stay with me Skye, we don't need anything happening to anybody." Triplett said.

Skye took a breath, "Fine, but we probably need to go find Hunter, he has been gone for a while."

"Just show me the way he went."


"You can't take away my strength. Fix these broken veins. There's nothing left to fight. (Live free or let me die.)."


"Fitz, don't say that!" Simmons exclaimed. "We are not going to die! Right, Mack?"

Mack gulped and examined the bomb closer, "I've never seen this type of bomb before, I'm afraid." he said. "It would take way too long for me to figure it out. It would blow before I could figure out."

"Let me see it." Fitz said, coming up to the small bomb.

"Fitz," Simmons began.

"And don't start that, Jemma. I can do this, stop acting like I'm useless." Fitz snapped. "I can do this." He slowly and carefully took the bomb out of the hole, hands shaking. "We can take this to the lab, where I have, the, the, uh, tools." he said quietly. "I can deactivate it."

"Fitz?" Mack asked.

"I'm fine." Fitz said.

They slowly walked the unknown bomb to the lab which wasn't far away. Fitz placed the bomb on the table and got out the necessary tools.

Fifteen minutes.

He found the back of the bomb and snapped it off, revealing a mess of wires and a strange, glowing power source.

"What the hell is that?" Mack asked.

"I-I don't know." Fitz stammered. "But let me work, please."

Shaking, he took a screwdriver and a pair of pliers, shaking, and examined the wires. "I-I might've seen this before. You ah, ah, dis-disconnect the wire. The wire." he muttered. "There is, there is, a, a."

"Fitz?" Simmons asked. "Are you ok?"

"You take this, uh, uh, wire and you place it, you place it. I don't know, I don't know." he muttered.

"Fitz, I can try. I'll take a look at it." Mack said, his voice calm.

"No!" Fitz exclaimed, shooting to his feet. "I'm tired of you all acting like I can't do anything anymore! So what if I think a little slower?!"

"I wasn't saying,"

"Yes you were!" Fitz yelled. "Say it, you think I'm useless, that I'm no longer, ah, ah, capable!"

"Fitz, don't." Simmons said. "There's a bomb with eleven minutes left on it and it's not the time to be doing this. I believe that you can do it. Focus and you can."

"Like hell you believe." Fitz hissed. "You're just like everyone else, Jemma. Hell, you left me. You didn't believe that I could be helped. No one does." Fitz stalked out of the room.

"I wasn't, that wasn't the reason why I left." Simmons muttered.

"I'll try, Simmons." Mack said. "I'm not guaranteeing that I can do it, but I don't think that Fitz is the one to be deactivating a bomb at the moment. Go get him and bring him back, before Hydra get to him."

Nine minutes.


"You can't take away my pride, I won't be denied. There's nothing left to fight (Live free or let me die.)."


Hunter crept around every turn, gun positioned our right in front of him. He was ready to take down anyone that was Hydra that came his way. He went around another turn, but stopped seeing that there was another person in the same hall.

The man was walking slowing in the same direction that Hunter was going, a gun hanging robotically at his side. He had no shoes on. Hunter frowned, the man seemed to be wearing a prison getup.

He knew that Coulson had someone locked up in one of the Vaults, and he must've escaped. Hunter aimed his gun right at the man, "Freeze! Stay right where you are!"

The man stopped and slowly turned around, staring blankly at Hunter.

Hunter frowned, he recognized the man's bearded face from pictures and footage that Coulson had shown his, "You're that Ward bloke, aren't you?" he asked.

"So what if I am?" Ward asked robotically. Emotionlessly. "Who are you?"

"Lance Hunter. One of what you would call Coulson's newbies. Now drop the gun and I'll take you forcefully back to your cell."

Ward flinched, this had to be the man that had replaced him other than Triplett. They were trying to wipe all traces of him, he felt. He had been replaced, with some snarky Brit at that. Ward slowly raised the gun, "I've been in there long enough." he said, almost coldly. "I'm not going back."

Hunter raised an eyebrow, "Oh, and what makes you say that?" he asked. "Because we're standing in the middle of a base that's been infiltrated by Hydra. Wait, are you going back to them?"

Ward's face fell, "I was never with them." he stated.

"I've heard the story from Coulson and the others, you were." Hunter responded.

Ward's jaw clenched up, "Then they have the story wrong. I've told Skye, I've told Coulson. I wasn't following Hydra, I wasn't following SHIELD. It was Garrett. Now he's dead, I'm not following anyone."

"No, you're following me back into your cell." Hunter stated coldly.

A shot was fired. Hunter fell to the ground as a bullet tore through his shoulder, and his gun skidded out of reach. He clutched his shoulder as it bled, watching Ward turn around and start to slowly walk the way he was going.

"They'll find you!" Hunter exclaimed.

Ward ignored the Brit's screams, continuing down the hallway a little bit faster. "I know they will." he muttered to himself. "And I didn't need to shoot you, but you were wasting precious time. There's a bomb somewhere, I heard Hydra talking about it. It's going to blow soon. And I'm going to try and stop it."


"Insects walk below, I'm on a wire. Fire will burn below, but I am higher. It feels like, it feels like. Don't you know the cost of your betrayal? You're the one that's lost, you're gonna fail. It feels like, it feels like you're gasping with all your might."


Author's Note: I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Song is 'Live Free or Let Me Die' by Skillet. All that happened. I'm not going to even explain it since it's already so late and I'm tired. And I'll leave you there. Keep reading and please favorite, follow, and/or review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.