Havana, Cuba
I sat on the sofa, with my leg crossed over the other, in Ernesto's Haircuts and watched as Ernesto put a moist cloth on Garrett's face. S.H.I.E.L.D. weren't the only ones who had safe houses. Below the hairdressers', was an underground Hydra base, where we would be staying for the next few days. Every Hydra agent also had their own lockboxes at the safe houses, full of clothes, money, weapons and fake ID. I had changed out of my tactical gear and into a pair of black jeans, healed ankle boots, and a loose maroon shirt.
The door to the hairdressers opened and the bell tinkled as Ward walked in, followed by Raina.
"Welcome back, Mr Ward." Ernesto greeted in Spanish. "How 'bout a shave?"
"I think I might let it grow out, Ernesto." Ward replied and Ernesto shrugged.
I looked at Raina who stiffened when she saw me. "Raina. Long time no see." I said. She didn't say anything and turned to Ward.
"This is where we're meeting the Clairvoyant?" she asked.
"There's no need to call me that anymore." Garrett said from under the cloth as Ward walked over to the sofa and grunted as he sat down next to me to watch. "Name's John. John Garrett." He continued, pulling off the cloth and standing up. "Guess you were expecting more the fortune-teller type." He added as he saw Raina's surprised and slightly disappointed expression.
"Uh, it's an honor to finally meet you." She said, finding her tongue and shaking his hand.
"Please, the pleasure's all mine." He replied and she beamed. "You've done great work for us on the centipede project."
"It was your gift that showed me the way." She said and I withheld a scoff.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Flowers. But, I never had any gifts, at least not the kind you believed in." Garrett replied. "Just a very high level S.H.I.E.L.D. security clearance and persuasive personality."
"You're not clairvoyant?" Raina asked, disappointedly.
"Hardly. But if it's any consolation, you weren't alone in believing, not by a long shot." He replied.
"So you're a liar." She said. "You're a fraud."
"An artist. A con artist, perhaps, but an artist all the same." Garrett said. "Had to pull the wool over S.H.I.E.L.D. 's eyes somehow to do what we set out to do. Remember what that was?"
"To change the world." She replied, although half-heartedly.
"Let me show you how we're doing that." Garrett said and gestured for her to sit in one of the slaon chairs. Raina glanced at me and I shrugged. "Oh, don't worry." Garrett said. "I wouldn't dream of letting Ernesto cut your hair." He finished before helping Raina into the chair. "Welcome to Hydra." He added and pressed a button on the chair and it sank, down, through the floor to the safehouse below.
"Nice speech, sir." I said as I got up and the three of us headed over to the stairs.
"Why thank you." Garrett replied as my phone rang. I pulled it out of my back pocket at looked at the screen.
"It's Coulson." I said as we reached the bottom of the stairs.
"By all means." Garrett said.
I opened the line and held the phone up to my ear. "Sir. Is everything alright?" I asked.
"Hey, it's me." I heard Skye's voice. "I just wanted to let you and Ward know that Emily Rook and Grant Ward no longer exist."
"You want to explain that, Skye?" I asked, looking at Ward and Garrett, who raised their eyebrows.
"Some trigger-happy colonel threatened to pay the 'Hub' a visit." She replied. "Coulson had us evacuate before he could lock us all up. So I'm scrubbing our I.D.s while Coulson figures out our next move."
"Makes sense." I replied. "Agent Hand picked up some Navy jets in the vicinity. She has us taking the long route to the 'Fridge' just to be safe."
"Wow. You took that surprisingly well. Did you hear the part about you no longer existing?" Skye asked.
"Well, it's not the first time my identity's been compromised." I said, thinking back to how I had changed my last name to my mother's maiden one – Rook, instead of my real one – Straten, when I joined S.H.I.E.L.D., so no connections would be made. "Have any idea where Coulson has us headed?"
"No idea. I'll keep you posted." She replied.
"Copy that." I replied.
"And when I see you next, who you gonna be?" she asked. "You got a clean slate. You can be anyone you want."
"I don't know." I replied. "Maybe…the Queen. I always wanted a corgi." I said and she laughed.
"Be careful, okay." She said.
"You too. We'll see you soon." I replied and hung up.
"I've gotta hand it to you two." Garrett said as I put my phone back in pocket and Ward leant on the back of a chair. "I don't even think Romanoff could pull that one off."
"Well, it wasn't without it's complications." Ward said, bitterly.
"Oh, come on." Garrett scoffed. "You're still not upset about that."
"Shooting Skye was not part of the plan." Ward said.
"Yeah, and was turning my hand into a pancake part of it too?" I asked.
"Near zero contact – that was the deal going in and you both knew that." Garrett said. "And I'm sorry about your hand, but at least you're not dead. But Ward, if you had a thing for the girl, you should have contacted me. I would have asked for your blessing." He said to Ward.
"Don't play games with me." Ward replied, standing up. "This isn't a joke."
"You don't have to tell me." Garrett replied. "Your little candy crush was on centipede's tail long before she was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. Seemed like a good person to eliminate. My bad."
"You said yourself you didn't want any bloodshed." Ward said.
"That was before I found out Coulson didn't know squat." Garrett replied angrily. "You know, you would have had an easier time if I gave the kill order in week one."
"Yeah. But you didn't." Ward replied, menacingly.
"The girl I get. She's cute. But we're closer than ever." Garrett chuckled and lead us over to where Raina was standing, in the middle of computers, scanners and servers.
"So, the equipment's here. What do you want with me?" she asked, sulkily.
"Well, Flowers, I'm putting you back in charge of the centipede project to finish phase three." Garrett replied.
"I thought Phase Three ended when I couldn't get the truth about T.A.H.I.T.I. from Agent Coulson, when she locked me up." Raina replied and looked menacingly at me.
"On the contrary – your little bedside chat pushed him in the direction we needed." Garrett said and lead us into another room, where three bodies lay on tables, covered by cream coloured sheets. "Don't get me wrong. We've had more than a few setbacks." He continued, pulling back the sheet on one of the bodies to reveal a pale body with a nasty, bubbly rash, covering the victims face, neck and chest. "We've been testing all the drugs we managed to recover from the Guest House. They all have different numbers. We thought one of them might contain whatever Jesus Juice brought Coulson back from the dead…I don't have any gifts, Raina, but you do. I can't succeed without your help."
"I'll need money. And resources." Raina replied.
"Your bank accounts are already fully funded." Garrett replied.
"This is a hard drive with all of Simmons' research, both Coulson and Skye's blood work, all the data on the Guest House drug." Ward said, handing her a chunky drive. "If there's a key to how his stuff works, you'll find it in there."
"Speaking of which did you find anything at the Hub on Skye's blood?" Garrett asked me.
"No. I tried contacting Agent Weaver at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, but they were under attack." I replied.
"By who?" Garrett asked.
"By us." I replied.
"Oh, right. Of course." He chuckled. "No worries, Raina will find something. Won't you?" he said as we headed for the door. Ward and Garrett were heading out for some shopping at the Fridge.
"Where are you going?" Raina asked.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most secure facility is vulnerable right now. We're gonna raid it." Ward replied.
