Here it is: the next chapter! It is a little bit different from the previous ones, as I've incorporated almost all of the characters of the team. But still lots of feels of course! I set up a small storyline with a certain 'evil' character here, which I'm not planning to do a lot with in future chapters (though I will use it of course), unless you guys are very excited about it, in which case you should let me know by reviewing and I will incoporate it more than I am planning to do now ;) I plan to keep my chapters more relationship focussed and one-shotty (as they are now), so that's why I wasn't planning on a big '[certain evil character]'-storyline. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

DISCLAIMER: Nope, still not my show or characters.


It was a quiet afternoon at the Playground, which was extremely rare these days. Hydra had been laying low, all inventory had been done and everybody had done their training sessions for the day. This left the team with their afternoon completely open. How better to spend it, than with a bit of friendly team bonding.

"Hey! Who hit me with the green shield? That's not fair, I was stuck in the grass already!"

"All is fair in love and Mario Kart, Hunter" Skye replied with a smug grin.

They were sitting in the living area in front of the TV, focused on their own karts on the 4-way splitscreen. Skye had teamed up with Mack and was sitting next to him on the couch and Hunter had formed a team with Fitz. Simmons had grabbed a chair and mostly enjoyed simply watching the others race and sometimes switched with Skye to do a race for her.

Hunter grunted in frustration as he watched his position drop all the way down to 14th place, as Toad spun round in his cart a few times because of the hit.

"Come on, Fitz! Take her down! It's for justice, mate!" Hunter encouraged his Kart-teammate.

Fitz motor skills had been improving more and more in the last few week and it was now finally beginning to show, as he had steadily been finishing in the top three. He was now in second place, as Skye had just passed by him and running in first place.

"I know, I'm working on it. I just waiting for the perfect opportunity to – Uhm… The perfect opportunity to –" Fitz struggled while being intensely focused on the race.

"Pass her? Hit her? Bump her?" Mack tried to fill in for him, but as kind as that was, Fitz had been searching for less civil words;

"Crush her to the ground, where she can wallow in defeat."

"Fitz!" Simmons exclaimed involuntarily at such unexpectedly aggressive words from her dear friend.

Hunter laughed and gave him a quick pat on the shoulder.

"Now that my mate!"

"Bring it then! See if you can catch me!" Skye challenged him.

Skye managed to maintain her top position for another full lap, but just half a lap before the finish, Fitz strategically threw a banana peel ahead of his kart, so that Skye couldn't avoid it and slipped. As Skye watched her kart with baby Daisy in it spin, Fitz's Bowser raced by her, finishing in first place.

After everybody had finished, Hunter jelled at the sweet revenge.

"Nicely done, mate!"

Hunter held up his hand for a high five, which Fitz reciprocated after a slight hesitation due to his surprise.

"In. Your. Face!" Hunter exclaimed and pointed at Skye.

"Okay, okay, I admit it. That was a pretty good comeback, Fitz. I have to say." Skye admitted. "You and team Hydra can be proud of yourselves."

"What? Just because we are the red team that means we are Hydra?" Hunter pretended to be offended.

"Well, since we were the blue team and you red, it seems pretty logical to me that we were team S.H.I.E.L.D. and you team Hydra," Skye grinned.

Hunter turned around to Fitz.

"Don't listen to her, mate. She's just jealous."

Mack laid his controller down next to him.

"Well, jealous or not, you drove one hell of a race, girl." Mack held his fist up and Skye bumped it with her own.

"Thanks, S.H.I.E.L.D- agent Mack."

"It's all jealousy, I'm telling you – " Hunter kept muttering to Fitz a bit longer.

Mack got up to get some glasses and soda for everybody. The rest slacked on the couches to recover a bit from the intense race.

"Where did we get the Wii from? " Simmons asked.

"Who knows," Skye answered. "All I know is that Billy was playing on it one day. Said he secretly took it from his brother. God know which brother…"

Mack came back with the glasses and soda and sat down again.

"Okay, let's take a quick break and then we can show you who the real bosses are," Mack said.

"In your dreams, Mack," Fitz replied at which Mack laughed, friendly.

Hunter looked at the soda in disappointment.

"Don't you have anything stronger?"

"It's like two in the afternoon!" Skye exclaimed.

"Whatever. So unfair…" Hunter mocked in self-pity, while he poured some soda for himself.

Unfortunately, before they could even finish their glasses, their relax-time was interrupted. Bobbi had walked into the room and she was not there to join them in the fun.

"Hey," Mack greeted her when she entered the living area. "Here to join me and Skye in crushing Hunter?"

Bobbi smiled, though just briefly, as she was there for business.

"As much as I would enjoy that, I'm afraid we don't have time for it. Coulson wants everybody in his office. Now."

Everybody got what that meant. Duty was calling, or better yet; the director was calling. They immediately shut off the Wii and put the controllers back to where they belonged. Hunter was the only one that was slightly protesting.

"It's like she can sense it or something. Every time I'm remotely gaining self-confidence or winning in some capacity, she'll come in an ruin it for me. I am also a bit surprised though," he went on explaining to Fitz, who did not really want to hear it, but was too polite to say so.

"Normally, any chance she gets to show me who's boss, she'll take it. We were on this undercover mission once, and I had had to watch her walk around in this sexy dress all night. The gentleman that I am of course, I was nothing but courtly with her. But once we were in the wardrobe searching through the coats of the guests, she pushed me against the wall and- "

But before Hunter could finish that story, Bobbi had turned around and shot him a look that could kill by the dozen. Hunter pretended to be completely naïve by pulling up his shoulders and mouthing 'what?' at her, but Bobbi saw right through that, which he knew so he decided it was best to zip it.

"Perhaps a story for another time, mate."

Fitz nodded, but was secretly hoping that 'other time' would never come.


"Is everybody here?" Coulson asked.

May was already in the office with Coulson. The last person to come through the door was Mack, who then closed it behind him.

"Yes, everybody is here, Sir," Bobbi answered.

"Good. May, on the big screen please?"

May nodded, and tapped a few times on the tablet she was holding, which resulted in the projection being transferred to the big screen on the wall of the office.

"I've brought all of you in here, because I think that concerning this subject it's important that everybody knows."

"Knows what?" Skye asked.

Coulson didn't answer, but made a hand gesture towards May, who then tapped on her tablet again.

On the big screen appeared a slightly blurred image, which had the unmistakable time marks of a security camera feed on it. The image showed a tall white man and an Asian woman robbing what appeared to be a store. They are both wearing bandana's which were tied so that it covered their mouths (western style). They both had guns pointed at the cashier. Strangely, it also appeared the man held a potted plant he was going to steal as well.

"A robbery? That's what you wanted everybody to know? That there are still people in the world robbing stores?" Skye asked in confusion.

Coulson made eye contact with Skye, but did not elaborate. Instead he looked at May again.

"May, could you zoom in and clear it up a little?"

May did as he asked. She zoomed in on the faces and after a few seconds, while the computer processed, the images became clearer as well.

Everybody that was now seeing the picture for the first time took a step closer towards the screen to see if they could identify the robbers.

Simmons was the first to notice what was so special about the robbers and gasped;

"O my God!"

"What's so- " Skye choked on her words mid sentence, when she saw it too. "That's- Ward…" she stammered in confusion.

Now everybody else gasped too, as they finally recognized the man that had betrayed them.

"But- I shot him like four times! How is that possible?"

"We don't know," Coulson answered. "This is the first sighting of him since San Juan. Also, it appears that he has found a partner. And not just any partner."

May opened another image, which showed the face of the woman more clearly. Not is was visible that she had a major scar across her left eye and resembled a woman they knew very well.

"Agent 33," Hunter said.

"With the freaky fried-May face," Fitz suddenly said from the back of the room.

Everybody slowly turned around towards Fitz, all with an eyebrow pulled up at the sudden comment from the young engineer.

"Uhm – that's what the – uhm – Koenigs call her, Sir. It's- never mind."

Self-consciously, Fitz looked down to the ground in the hope that people would quickly turn back around and forget his embarrassing comment.

Coulson shook his head (more to himself than Fitz) and returned his attention back to the screen.

"It appears to me that this robbery had a double function. Firstly, robbing the store allows them to stock up on supplies. If he's on the run, he won't have many resources. Secondly, I think he choose to rob a story, where he knew were security camera's to get our attention. To let us know he was still alive. May, could you play the whole clip?"

Again, May tabbed on the tablet and the clip of the robbery started playing.

It looked like a typical robbery. The clip had no sound, but you could sort of read the lips of the cashier. Agent 33 and Ward enter the store. Ward fires one shot towards the ceiling and probably yells that 'it is a robbery'. Then Ward threatens the cashier and agent 33 goes into the store. She comes back with some supplies and the plant and Ward appears to instruct the cashier to take out all the cash. While the cashier is taking out the money, Ward looks around the store and then, suddenly, he looks up and right into the camera. He keeps looking into the camera for a few seconds, then look down again and goes on with the robbery. Once they have the cash, they run out of the store.

May pauses the video.

"See the way he looked into the camera? I suspect that was for us. To let us know he is still out there."

"So what do we do?" Simmons asked.

"Right now, I don't know. I will have to make a plan for how to approach. I felt that for now, it was important for everybody to know about this information. Once I've formed a plan, you will all be informed."

Everybody nodded, but made no motion to leave Coulson's office again. Coulson decided to give his team a little push;

"As you were."

Everybody start moving towards the door.

"Not you Skye, there's something else I want to discuss with you."

Skye turned back around, intrigued as to what Coulson would want to discuss with her. They wait until it's just Coulson, Skye and May left in the room. May walks towards the door and closes it.

"So, what's up?" Skye asks.

"There's something else we didn't show the others. We're only going to show this to you," May answers.

"Okay…"

May puts the first picture back up. This time, she doesn't zoom in on the faces, but on the plant Ward is holding. When May clears the picture back up again, Skye sees what they wanted to show her.

It isn't just a plant: they are daisies.

Shocked, Skye's mouth falls open, while she looks at May and then at Coulson, whom she asks;

"But how could he know? My fath- Cal only said that to me. And you heard it obviously, but Ward couldn't have. He was halfway across the building!"

Coulson sighs in defeat.

"I don't know, Skye, I really don't. Maybe Cal mentioned it to him by accident or maybe Raina told him, but I can only guess."

Skye felt a bit weak in the knees and sagged down onto the couch, which was standing close by.

"I just don't get it," she continued, now with her elbows on her knees and head in her hands. "First I shoot him and now he's back out there robbing stores with agent 33 and leaving messages for me."

Coulson went to sit down next to her and May grabbed a chair and sat down in front them.

"And what does that mean, that he has the daisies? I mean – obviously he wants to get my attention and to let me know that he knows what I am, but… Does that mean he still hasn't given up in his diluted idea, that I will suddenly realize he's actually a good guy and will fall head over heels in love with him? That's insane! He keeps doing the same old tricks, trying to gain my trust, expecting a different outcome – the very definition of insanity! Why do I attract all these psycho-men? I didn't ask for any of this!"

Coulson placed his left hand on her back and moved his thumb back and forth, while May placed her hand on Skye's knee as well.

"We won't let him get to you, Skye" May reassured her. "And you're not going to let him get to you either. I taught you better than that."

Skye lifted her head and looked at May and Coulson and smiled at them. She then sighed;

"I should have stabbed a knife between the ribs the first time he kissed me. Then I wouldn't have had to deal with this crap and- "

But she couldn't finish her sentence, because May and Coulson exclaimed in unison;

"When he what?!"

Skye's face turned completely pale, as she realized that they apparently didn't know about that yet.

"Whoops…" Skye said, dragging out the 's', whishing she could go straight through the couch and floor to disappear.

Coulson and May looked at each other, both with the exact same expression on their faces. It seemed they were silently strategizing how to handle the situation.

"What do you mean 'whoops'? Were you planning on telling us about this, ever?" May asked her in a tone which betrayed that she was obviously struggling not to lose control over her emotions.

Skye felt like a kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Well… I told you now didn't I?"

The look on May's face told her that wasn't the right answer, if there even was a right answer.

"I thought you guys knew!"

"How could we possibly have know if you didn't tell us?" Coulson asked, very much matching May's tone.

"Well… Because you had seen me leaving with him on the security camera history, I expected that you had seen the kiss too…"

Now both May and Coulson were really lost.

"Wait- so he kissed you at Providence?" Coulson asked further.

"Yes," Skye answered. There was no use in holding anything back now. "Eric was somewhere else. I later found out that Ward had already killed him… We were talking about Ward's childhood and one thing led to another and he kissed me. You didn't see any of this?"

Coulson shook his head.

"Ward had disabled almost all camera's, except for the one for the hanger door," May filled in for him.

Now Skye understood as well. She was actually sort of relieved that these two parental figures in her life hadn't seen her kiss that bastard. That would have been really awkward for all of them. It was a mistake and thankfully it was not immortalized on video.

"So he kissed you. Please tell me you didn't kiss him back and pushed him away immediately," Coulson asked with a face that screamed he was desperate for it not to be true.

"Uhm… Well, the first time I did kiss him back, but the second time it was more-" But again Skye was cut off.

"The second time?!" Coulson exclaimed. "You are saying that you kissed him at least twice?!"

Skye searched desperately for support from May, who showed her she was on Skye's side now.

"Phil, calm down."

Coulson opened his mouth to continue his yelling spree, but Skye decided to step in herself and set everything straight once and for all.

"A.C., let me finish! I kissed him twice. The first time I kissed him back, because I didn't know he was Hydra. Once I found out a little while later, I kissed him another time so he wouldn't be suspicious. I was trying to buy you time to find me!"

That got Coulson to stay quite. The second kiss was a smart move, he couldn't argue with that. It did buy him the time to save her. He didn't know what he would have done if he hadn't been able to do so, but he couldn't even think about such scenarios and pushed them out of his mind. He took a deep breath and laid his hand on Skye's knee in an attempt to show her so.

"I'm sorry, Skye. I don't know what came over me. That was indeed a very difficult and smart move of you, to gain his trust like that."

To his surprise, instead of being angry with him Skye gave him a comforting smile.

"It's okay, A.C."

They sat in silence for a little while, before Coulson continued.

"Well, we'll keep him on our radar, so he has no chance of ambushing us or you in any way."

Skye nodded.

"Maybe you can start monitoring camera's in the area where the robbery took place, to see if maybe he messed up somewhere. By accident or on purpose."

"Okay," Skye said and stood up. Coulson stood up as well and walked her to the door where he opened it for her. Before she could walk through he laid his hand on her shoulder to stop her momentarily.

"And don't worry, Skye. We'll get that son of a bitch – whatever it takes."

"Wow, A.C. is going thug!" Skye teased him. He couldn't help but smile at that. Then, a bit of her seriousness returning, she said;

"Thanks, A.C."

Coulson squeezed Skye's shoulder lightly to express some of his underlying emotions and he saw she understood. Skye then left and he closed the door behind her. When he turned around, he noticed the large grin playing on May's face while she looked him dead in the eye.

"What?" he asked while walking back towards the couch.

"Hmm? Nothing," she said while shaking her head and very minimally trying to hide her grin.

"Clearly." He sat down. "Come on, May. Spit it out."

"You went full on 'angry dad' with her, Phil."

He looked at her and pretended to be deeply offended.

"Me? Look who's talking!"

She managed to put on her classic Melinda May-stoic face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Come on," he teased her. "You were yelling just as loud as I was."

The grin returned to her face.

"Look what's become of us, Phil. We were yelling at her like she was our teenage daughter that had snug off through her window to be with her secret boyfriend," she said shaking her head in disbelieve.

He sported the biggest smile.

"I know, isn't it great?"


So, that's it for this chapter. I hope you liked it! Also, let me know if you'd like a more elaborate 'Ward'-storyline or not. As always: please review, because they are very much appreciated!