Chapter Eleven (Feed the Machine)


"Turn around, they might be watching. And you never disappoint them. Hide your innocence before they see right through. You mustn't disappoint them."


Fitz froze as he heard the collapse of a body behind him. He looked to see Ward pointed the gun in his direction, no longer positioned on his temple. Fitz turned and saw a Hydra soldier lying dead on the ground, blood pooling from underneath his body.

He looked back at Ward, "What the hell was that?!" he exclaimed.

"He was about to attack you." Ward replied simply, lowering the gun.

"No, not that." Fitz said. "What I saw when I was walking in here. You had that gun pressed up against your, uh, uh, temple. What the hell was that?"

Ward gulped, "I-I…" he didn't say anymore.

Fitz looked at Skye who was sitting on the couch, her shoulder still bleeding, clearly confused at what was happening. He looked back to Ward, "You were going to kill yourself, weren't you?" he asked. "Tell me that that's what that was."

"I-I…"

"Ward, suicide isn't going to solve anything. I thought that you, ah, already knew that. You already tried three times and failed, you learned that that wasn't going to work. Suicide isn't an escape, you're just surrendering to everything. You're feeding the machine that everyone wants to see run." Fitz said. "I know you're broken, you have problems, I do too. But do you see me, um, um, putting a gun to my head or a blade to my wrist?"

Ward shook his head, clearly regretting his attempt.

"That's right, I am learning to deal. You helped me when no one else would. And I thought it helped you too. Put the gun down, Ward. There's probably no Hydra left to fight."

Ward placed the gun down on the concrete floor.

"What did Skye say to you?" Fitz asked.

Ward looked down, not responding.

Fitz looked at Skye, "What did you say?"

"Nothing more than the normal stuff I say to him." Skye replied. "That I hate him and rather see him dead. I don't understand why he wants to try and help."

"Maybe he's changed, Skye." Fitz stated.

Skye raised an eyebrow, "And what's with your sudden care for him?" she asked. "Last time I checked you hated him as well."

Fitz gulped, "I-I, I've been going and talking to him over the past couple of weeks." he said. "And it's helped. It's helped me deal with my problems and it's helped him deal with his. But it hasn't solved it as you just saw. And I still lose it every now and then."

He took a breath, "If you would just talk to him,"

"Maybe I didn't want to talk to him!" Skye cut in. "Only when Coulson wanted me to!"

"No one talked to me either." Fitz said. "Everyone, including you, treated me like I was going to break at any second, like I was going to... Um, like I was going to lose my mind. You left me alone when I didn't need to be. Ward was the only one that would talk to me."

"Fitz, we didn't," Skye began.

"Don't even start that crap, Skye." Fitz cut in. "The two people that needed the most help were, ah, right underneath your noses and you didn't even, uh, um what's the phrase?" Fitz frowned, "Bat an eye. That's it. You didn't even bat an eye at us, you left us alone when we needed help."

"Fitz," Skye started. "I, we, didn't know." She looked to Ward, who was still standing in the same place not saying a word, "Ward,"

"What are you even going to say, Skye?" Ward muttered. "Just a few minutes ago you were wishing for my death, what now? I just want to see you all safe. I protected you from that soldier. I deactivated the bomb."

"That was you?" she asked, surprised.

Ward nodded, "Fitz wasn't able to and that other engineer wasn't able to either. But still, what are you going to say now?" he asked.

"I'm not sure." Skye said. "I really don't know. Honestly, I was exaggerating earlier. I took my hate out of proportion all because I was shocked to see you, I didn't know what to say. I still don't like you, but I did believe to be telling the truth. I did see that you were changing every time I saw you, I just didn't want to admit it."

She looked at Fitz, "And Fitz, I was always afraid of what to say to you because I didn't know how you would respond. Or how you would take it. That's why things were always kept from you, because we didn't know how you would handle it. We didn't know how it would make you feel."

"Well now you know." Fitz said. He now noticed her shoulder, "What happened? You're bleeding."

"Some Hydra goon shot me, and Ward, he… He saved me… And I refused to believe it. I could've been killed." Skye said, realizing what she had said earlier.

Ward stepped forward, "I think the soldier numbers are dwindling down, Skye. We need to get you to Simmons so you can get that wound patched up. That's the first thing we need to worry about."


"You need the danger just to feel your heart beat. You need to die just to find your identity. You need the knife just to know that you can bleed. You need the pain now just to feel anything."


Coulson and May finally made it back to the base after their mission that turned out to be a bust.

"I can't believe that the painting was destroyed before we got to it." Coulson grumbled.

"We'll find another clue, Phil." May said. "You just need to rest now."

"Fine."

The two started towards Coulson's office, but stopping seeing two bodies.

May ran over to them and checked them, "They're Hydra." she said. "Unconscious, most likely ICER."

"Hydra's in the base?" Coulson asked, eyes wide.

"Damn. Where's the others?" May asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Coulson asked. "They're probably hiding if they're not dead or captured."

"We'll find them." May said. "There's no way that they're gone."

The two started running down the hallway, hoping that the rest of the team was still alive. But they didn't know that Hydra had been taken care of. The rest of the soldiers had retreated and the team was safe. But they still didn't know what they were going to see. Ward.


"We fall in line. We live the lie. Give up, give up and feed the machine. It grows inside, nowhere to hide. Give up, give up and feed the machine. Give up, give up and feed the machine."


Author's Note: I don't own AoS, Marvel does. Song is 'Feed the Machine' by Red. Not going to say much other than that Ward is alive and actually shoots a Hydra solider sneaking up on Fitz and Fitz gets mad at Ward for trying to give up. And that there's a really weird AoS werewolf story I'm wanting to write. That's probably not going to work. Keep reading and please favorite, follow, and/or review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.