Chapter Eleven (Already Over, Part Two)

(About a Month Later)

Skye went through the Index listings, making sure that they were distinguished between Inhuman, gifted, and whatnot, just like Coulson had ordered to do. The fight with Biogen to get Lincoln back a month ago had put several more on the list and Coulson had wanted to make sure that everything was right. She kept going through them, until she stopped on one in particular.

Ward's.

Coulson had ordered for Ward to be put on the Index right after they got back, despite Ward not being there for them to do most of the registration. But they got most of it from old SHIELD files. And it seemed that Ward was keeping true to his word, they hadn't heard or seen anything about him in the past month. Skye's eyes keep going over the short listing.

"Name: Ward, Grant Douglas, Status: Inhuman, Abilities: Pyrokinesis, regenerative healing, and possible super strength due to illegal experimentation. Listing: To be handled with precaution and extreme measures. Highly unstable and unpredictable."

There was more to it than that, but that was the only part she kept reading over and over. Skye still didn't believe that they were of the same kind, both Inhuman. It was a funny way how fate worked, if that's what it was.

"You miss him, don't you?"

The voice came so fast, that it startled Skye. She quickly went to the next listing as she saw Lincoln come around the couch. "What? I don't know what you are talking about." she said innocently.

Lincoln scoffed and stood in front of the couch, "You were staring at his listing for like the past ten minutes." he commented. "You wouldn't do that if you didn't miss him."

Skye shook her head, "No, it's not that." she began. "It's still hard to believe that we have the same blood, that he was never human."

He shrugged, "Things happen like that sometimes, I guess. Even turning psychopaths into protective Inhumans who just want to be alone. I guess he's keeping his promise to Coulson, though. He's been gone for a month now."

Skye sighed and looked down, "I guess. All of this is still weird." she stated.

"And speaking of Coulson, he wants us all in the briefing room in ten. Something about Biogen still up to their old business or something." Lincoln continued. "Let's get there before Fitzsimmons comes in and starts rambling about something I don't understand."

Skye nodded and got up, sticking her tablet under her arm. She and Lincoln walked into the briefing room and stood around the table, everyone else already there. Coulson raised an eyebrow at them.

"What took you so long?" he asked.

"Sorry, was still checking the Index listings and Lincoln just decided to tell me now that there was a meeting." Skye explained, eying Lincoln who only shrugged.

Coulson sighed, "Now, since we're all here, let's get to business." He pulled up a video on the screen in front of them. "As we all know, our assault on the Biogen facility didn't stop their schemes with Inhumans and gifteds, so they have another base. But it's come to our attention that they're using gifteds and such to capture more subjects for them.

Whether they're doing this on their own free will or against it, we don't know." he continued. "Now, I haven't watched this video yet, but it came to us from a contact who's been investigating Biogen for us." Coulson started to play the video.

They watched as a large, muscular man clad in black tactical gear approached a huddled group of what had to be Inhumans. There was no audio to the video and the man's face couldn't be seen. The man approached the group closer, letting his arms fall to his sides.

His arms trembled and flames suddenly ignited upon the skin. An eerie shiver passed through the team, something was far from right here. The group of gifteds cowered even more, afraid to do anything. They didn't look any older than their early teens.

The man held up one of his burning arms, as to signal something, and black-clad soldiers came storming into view and started to apprehend the young gifteds. Letting his arms fall back to his side, the flames extinguished and the man looked towards the camera, as if he knew it was there. A red light shone from his face and a flame appeared in his hand, throwing it towards the camera and destroying it. The video feed stopped there.

Coulson took a breath, already knowing what everyone was thinking. "Fitz, can you rewind back to where the man looked to the camera and zoom in?" he asked.

Fitz nodded slightly and fooled with the video until they got a close-up of the man's face and they all froze over. The man was no other than Ward.

Skye about threw up, "No, t-this can't be." she stammered. "It can't."

Coulson's face contorted into a snarl, "Damn figures." he spat. "I knew that he wouldn't keep his promise. Didn't think that he would go straight back to where he was though."

Hunter narrowed his eyes, "Does that mean that we actually get to go and kill the bloody fool now?" he asked.

May took a breath and examined the frozen frame of Ward face, the fire still glowing in his eyes. She knew that something wasn't right with him, but she didn't say anything.

Bobbi scoffed, "Coulson, what made you think that he would keep to his promise?" she asked. "Once a psychopath, always a psychopath."

"I agree with Bobbi." Simmons chimed in.

"Yeah, me too." Mack nodded.

Lincoln frowned and shook his head, "No, something doesn't seem right here. Why would Ward go back to the very group that was experimenting on him?" he asked. "I don't think he would. I don't think that he ever got away that day."

Coulson blinked, "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Biogen was intent on doing something to him. Ward said that they experimented on him after every match or whatever they were. The one time I saw Ward fight and then get dragged away by guards, he came back different. He was wild, fierce, harsh. Biogen had done something to him, but it faded away after he went to sleep." Lincoln explained. "Biogen wouldn't have had let him get away so easily."

Coulson pointed to the screen, "Are you saying that Ward isn't doing this on his own?" he asked.

Lincoln shook his head, "Why would he?" he questioned. "That man hated Biogen with every fiber of his body, he wouldn't work with them."

Coulson's face fell and his eyes shot back to the screen, taking in Ward's fierce facial features, "He's being controlled."

Skye gulped, "No, he… He wouldn't let that happen. I've seen him fight, there's no way that he would've been caught again."

Lincoln shrugged, "There were power inhibitors in the first place before it burned down. So it's possible that they were able to use one on him and capture him. The reason why the building burned… It's probably because of a fight between Ward and guards. But the guards won."

Coulson looked at every single agent in the room. He shook his head, not sure what to say. "What were they planning on doing to him, Lincoln?" he asked, afraid that this would possibly get worse.

He shook his head, "He never said specifically, only something about cutting on him and serums. There's no telling to what they could do to him."

"Skye, Fitz, I want you two to somehow find anything about what they are doing to him. See if you can hack into Biogen servers. Ward's already dangerous as it is." Coulson barked. "I don't want this getting worse and to the point where we can't get it under control." He gulped. "I'm afraid they could be making a monster out of Ward. Literally."

(Elsewhere)

Ward awoke in a dim light, his head in splitting pain as he lay on a cold, metallic floor. His mind was a storm of disorganized thoughts and agony. And there was a blank space in his mind. How had he gotten like this?

This had been the fourth time this had happened in the month he had been in the new facility, after Biogen had recaptured him after trying to escape. Guards would come in and drag him to the labs. Scientists would inject a harsh red liquid into his veins that burned like acid. And the next thing he knew, he would be back in his cell with no memory of what happened, laying there in complete agony.

He reached for the cot to pull himself up, but missed as he wretched onto the floor. It was always like this, always. He was always being experimented on for some God-forsaken reason, more than he had been in the other place. And it always ended in agony.

He fumbled for a grip on the cot again and finally found it, shakily pulling himself up onto it and lying face-down on the rough material, ignoring the smell of vomit in the room.

His head was pounding fiercely, and he didn't know why. Thoughts swirled around in his mind. He tried to move his limbs again, but they locked-up and wouldn't respond to him. Nothing would respond.

"Will it always be like this until I die? Pain day-after-day until it's finally over? I don't know what they're doing to me, but those serums are doing something to me. I'm becoming different by the day.

I don't know what they want me to be and why. But there's a big reason behind all of this. I can't escape from this. There's no SHIELD to save me. No Skye. No Coulson. No nothing. They probably think I'm still keeping my word, oblivious to what's really happening to me.

I know I'm gonna die soon, or to the point where it feels like I'm dead. And Biogen is gonna get what they want from me, 'cause there's nothing that I can do about it. There's no one to save me, I'm on my own."

Ward groaned, burying his head further into the thin piece of fabric that was supposed to be a pillow. He tried to block out the pain. It felt like his insides were being burnt with acid. He couldn't be hurt with fire. He was fire for God's sakes. But it was pure agony what he was going through. He just wanted to fall asleep and let sleep take it all away.

No, not sleep. He wanted to die. To end it all. But he couldn't be killed. The monster was always there, watching and waiting to strike whenever someone tried to take Ward's life, even if it was himself doing so. He couldn't run, he couldn't escape. There was no end to this hell.

And no one would come to save him, no one would care. He would live like this for the rest of his life, or until Biogen was done with him and found some way to kill him. One thought swirled around his mind as he tried to sleep.

"There's no hope left for me…"

Author's Note: I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Part two begin! So, after a month the team finds out that Ward didn't escape Biogen's clutches. And Ward's definitely trapped in some kind of hell. But what exactly is being done to him? Keep reading and PLEASE favorite, follow, and/or review! (Can we make it to 56?) ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.