Previously: Bobbi and Fitz were being attacked by a gifted when Ward showed up and saved them with his new fire power.


Bobbi could not stop gagging long seconds after they'd left the room. She could not, for literally the life of her, catch her breath.

"Just breathe, Bobbi," Fitz cooed into her ear.

I can't and that's basically the problem, she wanted to say, but had no voice.

Fitz was supporting her. Normally she dwarfed him, but hunched over to cough he easily laid a hand on her back.

Eventually her hacking dimmed to heaving and she was able to stand. Tears brimmed in her eyes, though.

"So, you guys want a team up after all?" came the casual voice. The all-too familiar nonchalance that had accompanied her pain in the past.

"No," she snapped. "We told you to get away from us."

Ward cocked a brow. "But then you followed me," he pointed out.

"From a burning room!" Fitz screeched, glancing behind himself. "Which… is still in flames. Maybe we should move?"

"Wouldn't recommend going far," said Ward, crossing his arms. "That was the second obstacle I've faced today. Whole place is booby-trapped."

"If we wanted an opinion from you we'd have asked for it, and…" she took a deep breath, quickly running out of air from the sentence. "…we won't."

The hydra man scrutinized her. "Ok… you alright there?"

"She just inhaled loads of smoke, thanks to you," Fitz explained harshly.

"Thanks to…?" started Ward. "You should be thanking me. I saved both your asses in there."

"But Bobbi's lung isn't healed yet. The smoke could have killed her!"

Ward looked interested, curious. He gazed over at Bobbi and she knew he'd put the pieces together. "Ah. My bullet did the damage, I take it," he said, stepping forward to her.

"And I have no intention of letting you do it again anytime soon," she snarled. "So back off."

Ward had the gall to chuckle. "You think you could stop me?" he asked darkly, gesturing to the hand he'd been chucking fireballs with earlier.

Bobbi wasn't one to back down from taunts, from fights. From anything. But this man haunted her nightmares. He'd disabled her and he'd tried to take Hunter from her. There was no way in hell she was going to let him see that she was scared, but her moment's hesitation of defending herself stemmed from that. It allowed him to continue talking, and worse, analyze her.

"Did they even give you a power?" he asked. "I'm guessing yes, based on what that AI thing told me. But then why would you, this Wonder Woman SHIELD agent, not be able to defeat that mess of a guy… I'm thinking you might have gotten the short straw in the power exchange." She watched him light his hand as his face turned casual to dark. "So maybe don't test me-"

"And you don't touch her!" Fitz screamed, throwing a fierce shove at Ward's chest. The fireball could have so easily burned him. "Don't even try to turn on those powers you don't know how to control!"

Bobbi didn't react quick enough to do anything, disarmed by his words. But it turned out she didn't have to. Ward just dropped his hands and stared at the engineer. He was heaving, standing protectively in front of her.

Fitz raised a finger. "You're not going to hurt anyone I care about ever again," he said. He was about to spew more angry words by the look of it, but instead just sighed. "It's not because I think I can take you," admitted Fitz, eyes wide and nervous. "Because I don't know if I can. But you… you at least pretended to care about us, about me, even after Hydra. I don't know if that's a lie or not, but if you care just know: if you threaten Bobbi you threaten me."

When did this happen? When did Bobbi become so weak she couldn't even use her voice and cunning as a weapon? Fitz was fighting her battles for her. In no way was she belittling Fitz, but that shouldn't fall onto him. In no way was he more qualified.

Except for that personal edge he had in the situation. Ward definitely hated Bobbi, but there he'd never shown signs of disliking Fitz.

"You're right, Fitz," said Ward. "I honestly think you may be the only agent from our BUS to make it here with your integrity intact. But, how about we call a truce? We put personal feelings aside to try and get out of this place."

"And afterwards?" Bobbi asked, perhaps foolishly. No way would Ward say he'd come willingly back into SHIELD's arms to be a prisoner. But then again, she'd like some assurances he wouldn't turn around and shoot her in the back.

"Cross that bridge when we come to it," he said. "If you remember, I called out to SHIELD to help Skye. The fact that you locked me up just shows your bad hospitality."

Bobbi smiled in strain. "Or showcased your stupidity," she said innocently.

"Stop it," said Fitz. "Just stop talking and berating each other. It's not helpful."

And putting needles through my fingers was?

Bobbi couldn't help the thought. Every time she looked at him, every time she thought of him she could feel it. The thought of losing Hunter rushed into her mind anew.

But, no. No, Fitz was right.

If Ward had some kind of personal connection, some kind of moral obligation to be of aid, riling him up would only lead to unsavory consequences.

Fitz sighed. "If you want, we can establish that you both hate each other and that any co-operation is out of necessity."

Bobbi frowned. "We're not five years old, Fitz."

He shrugged, clearly a little embarrassed. "That's what Jemma and I did when we weren't getting much done on our first partner project, back at the academy…" he cleared his throat. "Ok whatever. Let's just do this."

"Do what?" asked Bobbi. "What are we supposed to be doing?"

Right on time, a small, silver canister emerged from the ceiling. Glinting at them, Bobbi was sure it was meant to be a sort of spray bottle.

"Maybe deal with that?" guessed Fitz.

"Let's try not to," said Ward. "Move!"

He shoved them both. Though Bobbi despised his touch, she had to admit it was not out of place for what they'd agreed to.

Not that it mattered. The canister began to emit gasses quickly after they'd taken their first steps. It moved through the air quickly, Bobbi smelling the sickly sweet substance even as she attempted to hold her breath.

Then colors danced before her eyes, and she honestly didn't think it was from her powers.


Author's Note: Made this a short chapter or the delay would have been longer, and it just would have been more Bobbi/Fitz/Ward stuff anyhow. It seems to me you guys like the other people, so I'll try to have a chapter up wuicker than usual and it's those people hanging out with Priya next!