AN: Do not own any characters from the Marvel universe, however Maddi is still of my own creation.

Hey Guys really sorry that it has been ages since the last update, taking on a second job as well as everything else piling up on me meant that not a lot of time was spent in front of a computer screen.

Any ways here is the Seventh chapter, I hope you enjoy :)

Ps: Again really sorry about the wait...


"Come on kid this way" Garrett called to Grant who was still looking around in awe of the massive complex he was looking at, he quickened his pace and found his way over to Garrett. When he was standing next to him in front of the gate to the complex he began to question why he had been brought here, he honestly still did not think that Garrett trusted him enough to take him to a high level base.

As the guards opened the gates and let both he and Garrett in he heard them radio ahead, "Garrett is here, and by the looks of it he has brought THAT kid along with him, tell Hirsch to get ready." What puzzled Grant the most was that they were speaking in German, but they were in the middle of America, this did not make any sense to him, Garrett had been hard on him to learn multiple languages, so far at 19 he was already fluent in German, Spanish, French and Russian, he was competent in Polish, Dari and Mandarin as well. What had the guard meant by 'THAT kid' and he started to believe that maybe Garrett was proud of him, and had been talking about him to the other members of Hydra already. When they walked through the front door Garrett pulled him aside and said,

"Alright kid, here is how it's going to happen, you're going to be staying down that end of the place with all the rookies we have and I'll be down the other end with the higher ups, don't do anything stupid that will embarrass me here or you'll be feeling it for a week. Got it?"

Grant just nodded his response he knew already that these people would be John's friends and that he would be doing his best not to make him upset. So when a group of five people came down the hallway that John had said was where he would be staying he straightened up and got ready to be who John wanted him to be.

"Ah Mr. Ward, how nice to see you, to finally put a face to the name, John here has told us a fair bit about you. But first my name is Franz Hirsch and I am the facility leader here and I am here to make sure you are ready to join our ranks." Grant was determined to make sure he got in and did not let John down, so he nodded his agreement. "Excellent, so if you both will follow me this way, we will go through a little introductory examination to make sure you are fit and healthy." Again Grant nodded his head and started to follow them down the corridor, he did not at the time register that the hall they were going down only had two doors, which were right at the other end; it was not until he was ushered inside one with John going in the other that he thought it was a little weird and when he was laid out onto the examination table and strapped down his suspicions were raised again.

Then when Hirsch spoke fear replaced all other emotions, "So, Mr. Ward, we think you might be special but first we have to test your loyalties and your limits," He said this whilst attaching wires that were connected to a car battery to Grant's chest, he looked over to the window in the room and saw Garrett looking on, he said to himself, I will not buckle, I will be strong for John. After that all he could focus on was the intense burning pain that exploded through him when the first jolt of electricity passed though him and he started to scream…


Natasha woke to the feeling of Grant tossing and turning in the bed next to her, when she saw him arch his back as if he was in pain and he started to scream she knew he was having that dream again, every night since Wyoming Grant had been having nightmares, he was reliving the first time that Garrett took him to the Hydra base and had him tortured. After ten minutes of straight screaming Grant woke up, he felt Natasha next to him and he calmed down almost immediately, he laid back down drawing in ragged breaths, and Natasha curled into him, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close, kissing the top of her head. In the four weeks since they had come out of Wyoming, Grant and Natasha had started to date again and, whilst Grant was still having nightmares everything else was progressing nicely, they had been enjoying each other's company again, going out on dates when they were back at the tower and not taking out a Hydra base.

"Do you want to talk about it this time?" Natasha asked tentatively, because for the four weeks these had been going on, not once had he talked to about it other than saying first time tortured by Garrett. This time however, he surprised he by agreeing, it was time that he finally talked to someone about it, he said, that this should also probably be done whilst Maddi was present, her being a psychologist and all. Natasha nodded her head, she was happy that he was finally relenting and going to open up, it did not matter that he was asking for another woman to be present she did not even register that fact and said, "That is fine, we can go see her in the morning." But Grant shook his head this time,

"No we will have to go now or by the morning I will have convinced myself not to go at all." He explained, Natasha understood, this rationale, when she was taken out of Russia by Fury she struggled for a long time and every time she would go to talk to someone she would talk herself out of it.

"Alright let us get dressed then and we will go and see her now." She replied, and as they were getting out of bed she noticed some scars on his back that had not always been there, but she dismissed them as being new additions since she had last seen him.


Meanwhile on the BUS…

Skye was lying on her bed, on her stomach, watching the program she was running and had been running for four weeks to try and find the hidden city that had plagued Coulson's mind whilst she still could not believe that he and May had kept the knowledge about her parents that they had from her, once they told her the full story she could understand their logic behind it, it still terrified her the stories they had told of monsters that had destroyed cities and killed thousands. So whilst the program was running a new alert popped up on her screen, it showed that yet another hydra base had been destroyed and its weapons and technologies sent to the playground, she got up and went to find Coulson as this time they had left a survivor and he had being sent with the tech.

She knocked on his door and when he said to enter she stepped inside closing the door behind her, she then told him about the fact that in the last four weeks 8 hydra bases had been destroyed and that they had finally left someone who might be able to help identify those behind the attacks. Coulson was happy about this, finally they had some good news, and he actually wanted to know who was destroying the bases because he wanted to ask them to tell them how they had known about the bases when even SHIELD did not. He also wanted to thank them for all the help they had provided, giving them the weapons and tech had helped them enormously in dealing with their own hydra battles.

They then walked down to the hangar where the delivery had just arrived and they took the prisoner to one of the cells, once inside Coulson asked him, "So do you have any idea who is behind all of these attacks on Hydra bases?"

The man who was still quivering from what Coulson described as fear, replied, "Of course I do, it was bloody the Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye and some other guy they kept calling Shadow Strike."

Coulson had to double take, he was not expecting that, he could not believe that Nat, Steve, Clint and whoever this other guy was would not tell him that they were running ops like that, especially the first three they knew he was alive and they were all still friends. He wanted to know more about this other person though, this Shadow Strike as the man had called him, it was not like the Avengers to just pick someone up and have them in the team, at least not without anyone knowing about it.

"What did this Shadow Strike look like?" he asked.

The prisoner visibly flinched at the mention of the name, "Well he was tall, like at least 6 foot 4, maybe even 6 foot 5, and he was strong, so strong, he literally tore through most of the compound himself, he had a rage that was not normal. He had black hair and was dressed in all black.' After he had finished describing the mystery man he returned to shaking and holding himself. Coulson knew that there was not much else they were going to get from the man but now at least had a basic description of the guy; he decided though that he would call Nat and see what was going on.


Back at the Stark Tower…

Maddi was woken up to a knock on her door, she looked over to her alarm clock beside her bed and wondered who on earth who be knocking at her door at half past three in the morning, then she thought, This is probably Grant, he would be the only one to come to her at this time of night. When she had put on a robe as it was quite chilly, she made her way to the door and opened it, she nodded to herself when she saw Grant there, but she was a little bit surprised that he had brought Natasha along with him, "Can I help you Grant?" She asked leaning against the door frame.

Grant nodded his head and Maddi noticed that he reached for Natasha's hand; this made her smile as it showed that he was finally allowing himself to connect with others again properly. He then said, "Yeah I have been having nightmares since we got back from Wyoming and I was hoping we could talk about them?"

Maddi nodded of course and opened her door so that they could both step into the room, she directed them to the couch in her own small living room and she moved a chair around so that she could sit opposite them. "So what have the nightmares been about Grant?" she asked straight off the bat, she had a notebook and pen out just to keep track of what had happened.

"They have all been the same dream, well experience actually, of the first time that Garrett had me tortured to test my breaking point." Grant replied, his hands were shaking even though one was being held by Natasha. Maddi wrote this down and then asked her next question.

"OK then so what event do you believe set these memories back to the front of your mind?"

"Well on that first mission in Wyoming, I did not exactly tell fury and you the full plan or what it would obviously entail."

"This made Maddi quirk her brow; he had not lied to her in a long time."

"What do you mean the full plan?"

"Don't feel too bad, Natasha, Steve, and Clint only found out whilst we were hiking to the base, but the full plan was that I would enter the base with Natasha as my prisoner, obviously they would have to test to see where my loyalties lied and that would involve me being 'questioned' which in this case meant torture."

Maddi gasped she had not expected to have this conversation at all, "Grant, there had to be another way, but what was it about the torture that brought back these memories?"

"No Maddi, there was no other way, and the torture method was almost identical, I was the first person that Hydra experimented on electrical shock as a form of severe torture, they did it with a car battery the first time, and they would also wet me during these times, so that the electricity was intensified."

This time Natasha also gasped, "You never told me that they had you wet as well going into that sort of torture."

"Would it have made any difference Nat, Torture is torture however you put it, I'm no more innocent than them, I have tortured people for SHIELD, so have you, this is just part of the world we are a part of."

"I know we've done it, but at the very least we don't condone torturing kids, that's just purely inhumane."

"I suppose," Grant replied before turning back to Maddi, "Back to my problem however, What happened was that Garrett took me to a facility, not the one in Wyoming but one similar, and he introduced me to a man called Hirsch who led me down a hallway and strapped me down to a table telling me that it was just an examination, then he hooked up the wires to the battery and sprayed me with water before going on to repeatedly shock me until I passed out."

Maddi honestly could not believe what she was being told, the amount of physical and emotional stress that this form of torture would have had on Grant was obviously severe.

"Grant, firstly I am proud of you for coming forward and asking for help, I now that it would not have been easy for you to do this, so well done. Next I what I want to ask, however I do so with a sense of apprehension, how often were you subjected to methods like this in your time with Garrett?"

"Yeah, this sort of thing does make me uncomfortable, it is more so that I was always taught that seeking help was a weakness, now though I know that I need help if I want to be better, to help. And then to answer your question, almost every time I was with John something would happen either I would be beaten or I would be tortured in some way, it was never the same twice in a row.

It was at this point that Natasha's phone began to beep, telling her that someone was calling her, she frowned at this because very few people had her number and any of them calling at this hour would not be anything good. Her frown deepened when she read the caller ID

Phil Coulson

Grant looked over to her phone and half smirked at her, "So it looks like he found the present we left them haha, and it seems as though they talked."

Natasha looked at Grant puzzled, "What do you mean present?"

"At the last base we left a 'Prisoner' so that when SHIELDs clean-up crew came through they would have picked him up, it seems as though the prisoner told them something that has Phil worried, and you should take the call by the way."

Natasha looked shocked but did as Grant said and answered the phone,

"Phil, what the hell are you doing calling me at four in the bloody morning?"

"Nat has the Avengers picked up a new team mate?" He replied in a voice that underlined his concern and also appeared to be in a rush.

"Yes Phil I'm great thanks for asking, how are you?" Natasha responded sarcastically,

"Nat I don't have time for this, we just picked up someone at a base that supposedly belonged to Hydra and he said that it was you that took the base along with Clint and Steve. But he also said that there was someone else with you, who was it Nat?" again Phil replied concerned and in a hurry.

"Oh Phil of course it was us that too the bases who else could possibly be doing it. In terms of the person with us, it does not really concern you, they are just someone who knew the schematics of the building better and was a valued asset in the field." Natasha Replied, she was starting to enjoy running Phil around a bit now.

"Yes well why were you calling him 'Shadow strike'?" Phil asked exasperated.

"Because Phil that is the name that he chose for himself going into the op. and this conversation can be had at another time I am going back to bed goodnight."

And without even giving him a chance to reply Natasha hung up and looked over to Grant and Maddi who were both trying not to burst into laughter.

"What?" Natasha asked.

"It was just funny seeing you try really hard to dodge giving away who I am haha." Grant replied and they all burst into laughter.


ON the BUS:

He could not believe that she had hung up on him like that, he was a great friend of them still so it stung a little. Then he remembered that she had said that it was four in the morning where she was, he looked at his watch, that meant that she was somewhere on the East coast, probably New York or Washington. He turned to both Melinda and Skye and said, "Well, I don't know, it was someone who had a better understanding of the building than them and was an asset in the field."

Skye thought about that for a moment and said, "So either it was an ex hydra agent or someone who had escaped the facility."

"Yes Skye you are probably right, I would say the latter option is more applicable because Hydra agents do not renege, they die before telling anyone anything. It is what makes them so frustrating to question."

As they continued to discuss the possibilities of who the mysterious character could be, Skye's phone dinged, she pulled it out and looked at the screen and saw that her program had found the city, she looked up to Coulson and said, "Looks like we are going to San Juan."


At the same time at the Stark Towers…

Natasha's phone beeped again, this time when she pulled it out it also said where the city was, she looked to Grant and said, "Tech has finally been able to crack the system of the Intel we found in Wyoming, there is a city they were planning on taking you, Raina and Skye, and it is San Juan, Puerto Rico."


AN:

There you go guys that is it for chapter seven, what did you think, i know a lot of it was just back and forth dialogue between Maddi, Grant and Natasha but I felt it was kind of necessary.

any way next time... will Skye and Grant get their first meeting since the fall, what will San Juan hold for them both?

Please Review the chapter and the story as a whole always enjoy hearing what you guys think.