Here's a warning: this chapter doesn't follow the same timeline as the TV show. There are certain references to scenes that occur in the show, but you should view them as standalone events.
Ward's allegiance was with Garrett. He was the man who saved him. Who took him under his wing when no when else would. He owed everything to the man. It was in that forest that Ward became a man. Garrett taught him how to fight, to survive, to trust no one but himself.
It wasn't like he didn't grow to care for Coulson and the rest of the team. They made it so easy to infiltrate. They were trusting; Fitzsimmons, Skye, Coulson... May was the only one that was harder to crack. The scientists were the easiest, they didn't have field training, they didn't know what it was like to lie or manipulate. All he had to do was to come in like an older brother, to provide strength, protection, and be Mr. Save The Day.
There were moments where he did feel protective over them. Or concerned. It was the bond they all had that irked him. Fitz, risking his life to jump off a plane for Simmons when he had absolutely no idea how to operate a parachute. Simmons, jumping on a grenade. Skye, bugging him non-stop about his defining moment. They cared for each other – tremendously. But Ward was always a one man team. That was all he knew, and he pushed aside all genuine feelings for the team because he knew it made him weak. Ward was strong because Garrett taught him how to eliminate weakness. They were a mission. Garrett gave Ward a purpose.
He couldn't, and wouldn't feel bad about Fitz. If Garrett said it had to be done, then it had to be done. Images of a tortured Fitz crossed Ward's mind as he sat back down on his chair.
He was home.
"Good to have you back, son" Ward stood up and immediately pulled Garrett into a tight hug. He smirked at him. "It's good to be back sir."
Garrett's face was overwhelmed with pride, as well as relief. "You had them going good boy, did you think I would leave you with Coulson?"
Ward was willing to do a lot of the man standing in front of him. He could have endured a lot of more torture if necessary. "Why'd you give them Fitz back?" he asked curiously, "I thought you said you needed him. I would have been fine."
A wide smile spread across Garrett's face, "now now, what did I teach you about what one man can accomplish once he realizes he can be something bigger?" Garrett led Ward out of den, down the stairs. "Don't worry about Agent Fitz. I broke him good." Garrett laughed, as he looked back at Ward. "First, I gotta show you something. You haven't seen the big picture yet!"
Garrett opened the door to a small dimly lit room underground. All over the walls were marks, lines and dots carved onto the walls.
"Can't keep all these ideas in my head, son" he said casually, noticing the look on Ward's face.
Garrett was losing it.
"Hey" Garrett gave Ward a solid pat on his shoulder. "I'm alive for the first time, thanks to you." He gave Ward an appreciative smile. "That drug didn't just strengthen me, it gave me a clarity of mind."
Ward was confused. He knew about Project T.A.H.I.T.I. but it drove people insane. And Garrett was still alive thanks to the modified GH.325. While the centipede device had helped to keep him alive, it was the serum that healed the internal injuries he sustained.
"Sir – the T.A.H.I.T.I. patients, didn't they go-" Garrett interrupted, a big smile on his face "You don't think I'm mad do you?" He walked over to open another door. The room was larger than he expected, stark white, sterile. On the ceiling was a large overhead light.
Ward blinked twice, uncertain of the object in front of him. It was a big machine with multiple robotic arms, each connected to a needle. Ward backed away carefully, "Isn't that? But – how'd- that was destroyed!" he blurted out without thinking. Ward knew about Project T.A.H.I.T.I. and Coulson's involvement in the project. 6 agents, injected with GH.325, showed incredible healing progress. The serum had an effect of regenerating cellular tissue on a level unknown to modern day science. It was soon discovered though that the serum also implanted fragments of cellular memory of the host to the receiver. The patients of Project T.A.H.I.T.I. all began showing signs of insanity. As a last resort to override the invading memories from the host, doctors put patients through a painful and torturous procedure to have their original memory erased, and new ones implanted. The process worked with each person having no memory of their previous lives – but Ward knew about the sacrifice that meant. Garrett would never erase his memory like that.
Garrett saw Ward's puzzled look and couldn't keep the crazy smile off his face. "Still trying to figure it out boy? Hah." Garrett tapped the side his head. "Who do you think built the memory overwriting machine in the first place?"
Suddenly everything clicked into place. A robotic-assisted neural micro-surgery - that would require extremely fine and sophisticated engineering. To calibrate a machine to interact with specific portions of the brains and deliver an exact dose of electricity.. that would require- that would require... Fitz.
Fitz. That's what Garrett wanted him for.
The gears starting turning in his head. How didn't he know this? Fitz wasn't a great liar. There was no way he could have kept this a secret, unless... Fitz didn't know. He didn't remember. Ward looked at Garrett for confirmation, only to be greeted by an evil possessive grin.
"That's right, that's right. You see what SHIELD does? That poor boy had no clue. Talk about betrayal." Ward's hands reached up to cover his eyes as bright white light shone straight in his direction. Garrett lifted up two x-ray scans against the light, "they had tissue removed from his hippocampus, which stores memory. Crazy right?" Garrett pointed to the incisions made along the temporal lobe. "The lengths at which SHIELD will go to cover up their secrets." The devious sparkle in Garrett's eyes was apparent. "Imagine what poor loyal Fitz would do if he knew.. I didn't have the heart to tell the kid, but maybe I'll have a change my mind in the future!"
Ward clenched his fist. Fitz wouldn't take it well. And he knew better than anyone, that if Garrett had somehow removed that memory from Fitz once again, he sure as hell had a plan to hold it over Coulson's head for leverage. But in that moment, Ward realized that his allegiance to Garrett was the right one. If SHIELD could do that to one of their own, then they weren't the good guys.
"Let's move on Ward, you'll want to see what else I got the engineer to build. It's funny how you can make people do things..." Garrett ushered Ward further underground. The pair walked down a long and narrow stairwell before they reached a dead end. There wasn't anything in sight. All Ward could see were brick walls. Garrett moved Ward aside, pushing a brick gently, revealing a secret door guarded by two soldiers.
Screams echoed through the stairwell as the door opened.
The room was dark, wet, and cold. In the middle was a gurney, a man strapped down, while a guard injected him with a serum before probing him with electric shocks. There was a screeching piercing sound that was barely audible ringing in Ward's ear. Behind that, were men, geared in tactical armour lined up in a row.
With a slight motion of his hand, Garrett ordered two of the men to move forward.
"Now this is where Agent Fitz and I had lots of fun." Garrett smiled smugly. Garrett took out a small transceiver, handing it to Ward. "Your boy built this himself, go on turn it on." Ward cautiously flipped the switch but nothing happened.
Garrett walked up to one of the soldiers. "Agent Sanders... isn't it? Tell me, what's your code?"
"42 megahertz, sir."
Garrett shot Ward a look, encouraging him to switch the device to transmit at that particular frequency. "Now Ward, speak into the transmitter and tell him to kill Agent Boyd over here..." Garrett stood behind the other agent, hands on his shoulder, as he looked at Ward with conviction.
Ward nodded obediently. Hurt him. Kill him. He doesn't deserve to live.
Before he knew it the two agents were fighting aggressively. It was a full on fight. Agent Sanders lunged for the man's neck. He grabbed his head, and pinned him down to the ground. With both hands, Agent Sanders twisted Agent Boyd's head and snapped his neck in an instant, leaving the man dead on the floor.
Resounding claps and a loud belly laugh resonated across the room. Leaning against the wall, looking down at the two bloodied men, was Garrett, laughing uncontrollably while he clapped on.
"You see, what we got Fitz to do here was rebuild the memory overwriting machine, only better. We needed something smaller, so Fitz, with a little encouragement from me, figured out a way to get a person to react to certain frequencies." Garrett walked Ward down the line of men standing still against the two sides of the wall. "We didn't need Fitz for the conditioning bit, we just used his device to induce hallucinations into our subjects." He moved to the solider strapped down to the gurney. "They hear whispers. As if it's their own thoughts. And the pain-" Garrett picked up the electrical taser shoving it deeply agains the side of the restrained solider. "The pain motivates them to take action." Garrett shrugged, whilst still looking conceited, " While not directly mind control, these induced hallucinations can trigger behaviours beyond their conscious control." He tapped profusely on the head of one of the soldiers. "There's a chip, a tiny undetectable one that's attached to his thalamus. That's the part that controls dreams."
Garrett started chuckling again. "Do you see what we can do here son? We can suggest thoughts, control people." he clasped his hands excitedly. "I like to think of it as a new thought-controlled weapons system." he looked at Ward with a malicious grin and deep piercing eyes.
"Welcome to Project Cerebus, son".
Suddenly it dawned on Ward. Garrett had someone on the inside. Someone he could control whenever he wanted to. A smoking gun. And Garrett had his finger on the trigger.
Returning Fitz was always part of the plan.
Garrett still had Fitz.
Aaaaand the plot thickens.
I've been trying to subtlety hint to this in previous chapters so if you caught on, good job! To be fair, Fitz's strange actions/odd behaviour was also partially due to PTSD and his drug addiction.
Now that you know Garrett has been planting thoughts in his mind, just think about how messed up Fitz currently is. Tortured, shot, drugs, withdrawal, all coupled with that voice inside your head chipping away at your insecurities.
Things are about to go crazy soon. Hope you enjoyed this "look it's not Fitz suffering again!" chapter.
Review / PM me please! Let me know if you enjoyed this twist :)