Discarded

by tmrlan

AU. Grant Ward was never part of team Bus but some things are meant to be. Having fulfilled his mission of saving John Garrett's life, he is lost without orders, purpose and his master. Who is he without Garrett?

24. Chapter 24

Ophelia Sarkissian and her backstory are a property of marvel comics. Ophelia was brainwashed into following Hydra and then ended up as Hive's host. And that makes her story the closest to Grant's.

WARNING: violence.

AIM – Advanced Idea Mechanics is an organization of brilliant scientists and their hirelings dedicated to the acquisition of power and the overthrow of all government by technological means from marvel comics.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but probably the plot :) – if you recognize something, it's probably not mine (except the OCs, I kind of like them). All rights belong to their owners.

Cross-posted at archiveofourown org

Thank you for reading! As always, comments and questions are welcome!

So, this is it, the end. Thank you to everyone for sharing this adventure with me! I hope it was as fun for you to read my story as it was for me to write it!

!

!

!

Ophelia Whitehall – he tried to ignore the fear that slithered up his spine – continued in a pleasant voice. "You might be wondering what you are doing here, so I will give you a hint. We met for the first time eight years ago. Or," she chuckled, "'met' is a strong word. We didn't actually see each other, but we spent a lot of time in adjourning rooms."

He tried to suppress a shiver – he began to suspect what date she meant he hoped he wasn't right – and knew that he didn't succeed by the pleased expression on her face.

"It's all good and nice, but can we skip to the part there Daniel," her father or whatever relation of hers he was, "shows his face to express his feelings about my actions."

But she only laughed. "You think my father is here? You think this all," she drew a circle with the point finger of her right hand, encompassing the basement in which they were currently residing, "is so he can mollify his hurt ego?"

She laughed again and then said. "No, we – you and me – are not here for that. Father can try to capture you himself, if he so wishes. We're here for a different reason. But, maybe, I have started with the wrong story."

Whatever the story was, he didn't want to hear it – because eight years ago he 'took part' in the 'Mephistophilis' experiment, which would later be re-named simply as the Faustus method.

But she wasn't going to give him a choice.

She leaned back in the chair and started. "Once upon a time…"

ooo

"…there was a little girl, with mother and father, who loved her dearly. They lived a quiet and happy life – or so one could hope – until one day they decided to travel to another city. But the misfortune fell upon them – their car overturned on the road, killing both parents instantly and leaving the little girl an orphan.

Typical story, you would say. And I would have agreed, but… you see, it didn't continue as many such stories do.

The doctor that was travelling in these parts took notice of the little orphan girl. Now, as you could imagine, I hope it was because he saw something in that little girl, some spark, some inkling of the inevitable greatness, perhaps… But the truth is probably much more straightforward – she had no one in the world to notice her disappearance. No one to notice and no one to care.

And so, the doctor took the little girl in and gave her a new name – 'number six' as she would be known among her new sisters.

Now, I know what you're thinking, but the doctor was being kind. We were orphans. Little girls, all alone. Hydra gave us a home. Eight great houses. Twelve girls to a house.

We were taught and we were trained. We were tested. The ones who couldn't perform at the expected level, well, they were cast away.

There was no place for a weakness, you must understand.

The tests continued, becoming harder and harder. And in the end, the most determined, the most ambitious, the most aggressive… That girl would be the Viper.

And after the last test number six became one.

She became the Viper and Father gave his daughter a name – 'Ophelia'.

I took the name, I took the praise and I lived.

But then, one day my and your lives intersected.

You were drafted as a test subject for the 'Mephistophilis' experiment, as was I. As were several others. But what you don't know is why you were chosen.

I will tell you – you were chosen for the same reason I was.

Because of a bet.

Yes, you heard it right. Several prominent Hydra agents made a bet that their student will win. That their 'golden child' will resist the brainwashing and overcome it.

Agent John Garrett bet you, Daniel Whitehall bet me. Dr. List and von Strucker bet too. Identities of other participants, their champions are of no interest.

Because this story is about me.

I held on for five days. And when I broke.

I remember picking up a loaded gun and putting the barrel in my mouth, ready to pull the trigger. Only Father's mercy allowed me to continue living.

But you must have already guessed how my story ends, haven't you?

Because you held on for seven days.

You held on for seven days shaking off the programming just as it seemed that it was taking hold. Shaking it off again and again.

John Garrett put a stop to the experiment, dragging you out of the hands of the scientists.

Because he's already won.

Because you have won."

ooo

Whitehall's daughter – Ophelia – touched the right side of her face with a finger, causing the sparks of electricity to dance on her skin. "Father ordered me to shoot a bullet through my cheek as a punishment for 'letting Garrett's boy win'. The scars are horrible and until recently, until the invention of the photostatic veil I've been forced to bear my scars, reminded of my failure every time I looked in the mirror."

But her words washed over Grant as his mind was reeling. All these years he thought that John saved him, saved him from scientists who experimented on him, when in reality… when in reality John was the one who let them do this to him.

Had John really never cared about him?

The familiar pain sliced at his heart and he pushed the hurt and shock to the back of his mind. Now was not the time for a weakness.

She straightened. "Now, you understand what we're doing here, don't you?"

His mouth was dry, and his heart was in his throat and his question surprised even him. "That bullet wasn't the only punishment, was it?"

His mind was spinning, and he forced himself to throw everything out of it to focus on the only thing that mattered right now – surviving.

She froze for a moment, before answering. "No, it wasn't. Father forbade me from taking important missions for Hydra." Her lips quivered but then she pursed them. "He ignored me for years, qualifying me as a mere scientist then I could have been so much more. Do you understand what you took from me? What you did?"

He knew he would regret saying it, but he said it anyway. "I'm so sorry that I made you lose daddy's approval and hurt your chances of ascending through Hydra ranks."

She jerked as if she'd been slapped. For a second her nostrils flared and there was a flash of loathing in her eyes. Then, she took a breath, calming herself down, before continuing. "I didn't know who you were. Not then. I knew nothing about you until a year ago when Hydra came out of the shadows and Garrett got himself killed. For the first time."

He ignored the pain that squeezed his heart.

"Then you were strapped to a rack, subjected to the improved Faustus method, and Father told me that it was you, the one who ruined my life."

"And you decided to ruin mine."

She shrugged. "An eye for an eye."

He didn't agree. "I think you took it a little further than that."

She smirked. "I suspected from the beginning that Father's attempt to brainwash you has failed. I had no proof, of course, you were perfect and made no mistakes."

But apparently not perfect enough to fool her.

"But I knew, I could almost feel it in my bones – you were faking. So I made sure to be assigned to the same lab as your precious Raina."

He was a second too late to control his face and she smirked. "Oh, don't deny it, I know that then she meant to you way less than she does now – and that's the only reason I didn't kill her in all those months I've spent close enough to plunge a knife in her back."

He forced fear out of his voice as he said. "So why didn't you?"

Something tightened in his chest as she smiled. "Because it was more fun to watch you two conspire." She conspiratorially winked at him. "I know that what's happened to poor Dr. Jefferson was no accident."

His tongue was heavy as lead, when he stated the obvious obvious but unbelievable. "But you didn't tell your father."

She nodded, grinning. "No, I didn't. He would have vivisected Raina and re-brainwashed you – and there's the fun in that?"

She shook her head. "No, I waited and gathered information. But you were so boring." She pouted. "Missions, training. Training, missions. Even my little project with messing with your adrenaline levels bore no fruit."

He set his jaw, clenching his teeth before something rash made it past his lips. So, it was her. Not Whitehall.

"Oh, I know that you figured it out." Of course she did. That meeting with Raina in a café was a mistake.

Meanwhile, she continued smiling. "It was so much fun, slipping you the necessary drugs with you being none the wiser." She tilted her head to the shoulder and looked him over. "I wonder… it must have been frightening to not be able to trust your own body, your own mind."

He said nothing. But he didn't have to, not when the answer was painfully obvious.

She grinned, baring her teeth. "But let's continue with our story – your little friendship with Barbara Morse was amusing but not what I was looking for. I mean, you were never going to trust her completely. And vice versa. Although, I must confess, I didn't figure out that she was the mole this whole time, so kudos for that, agent Ward."

She looked singularly unperturbed about the identity of the SHIELD spy, but then again, she didn't seem to care about Hydra in the moment. She seemed to be telling the truth that this was personal.

And that meant a problem for him. He didn't have a single idea what to leverage against her and how to get out of this alive.

"Anyway, I was starting to re-consider my decision to keep silent then she appeared. Lovely Jemma Simmons. Oh, miss Simmons. I still don't understand what you found in her, but the changes in your behavior – they were delicious." She chuckled. "Of course, I didn't bring Father's attention to that. I wanted to give your relationship time to grow stronger, but you went all noble and saved her from being arrested as a spy and there was no way Father would have let the situation escalate further."

She leaned forward in the chair, hatred heating her glare before she took control of her emotions. "You have no idea how much effort it cost me to convince Father to let you be and not remedy your brainwashing. I told him that using Simmons to control you would be easier than going through the trouble of putting you through the Faustus method again."

So he had her to thank for Whitehall letting him roam free.

That stung – he was so stupid to think that he managed to fool Daniel Whitehall.

Ophelia Whitehall looked him over and wryly smiled. "Of course, after all the trouble I went to, you jumped in the mess with Donald Gill. I underestimated your affection for the kid and Father was furious. Thankfully, not with me, poor Bakshi."

She sighed and straightened in the chair. "For a while it seemed that I won't have to lift a finger to destroy your life – you were doing a superb job of destroying it yourself. Then, I noticed Raina running some unauthorized tests and imagine my surprise then I realized that my little experiment was discovered. But I lost interest in it, so the only thing to come out of it was pulling at your strings when I gifted Raina a poisoned dress. Oh, how I regret not being able to see your face. You must have been so scared for her. Scared, blaming yourself and powerless to do anything."

He ignored the rising wave of hate surging up his body and coiling around his heart.

She closed her eyes for a moment and then shrugged. "But you were still insisting on hiding from Father's wrath and so I decided to start implementing my new plan – I befriended Jemma. She was so lonely, poor girl, I'm afraid Raina somewhat neglected her 'friend' duties. Not that I don't understand her – Jemma was inconsolable, worrying whether her parents were arrested and what was happening to them. Before the month was up, I've already become Jemma's newest confidante, which was not as fun as it sounds. Especially during the frame up to paint you as the mole." She rolled her eyes. "I had to hold her hand through it, convincing her that you'll be alright. And then…"

She gripped the chair's armrests. "And then, you came back. After Father got arrested by federals on phony charges. Don't think that I haven't figured out that it was your doing. I don't know how but that was you."

He ignored the baiting and she took a deep breath releasing the armrests. "But I digress. Father was going to deal with the inconvenience you caused, so I focused on you. Watching you fighting for Raina, for your people, angering Bloom – I knew that the moment I was planning for was near. Appearance of Garrett was delightful, he shook you pretty badly. I was even worried that he will make you revert back to your boring obedient self. But you got attached strong enough to disobey him. Even strong enough to kill him."

Hearing someone say it out loud was painful, but he forced the pain down.

She looked at him with a question in her eyes. "You've already figured out that it was me you met in the foyer of agent Kang's house months ago, haven't you?"

His heart lurched as the implication sank in.

No, Skye –

"The same meeting which had another person – miss Skye, no last name, a hacker, that Scarlotti and his team caught snooping around."

Oh God, no, please, she can't know about Skye –

"I must admit, in all my expectations, there never was a place for your betrayal – I thought you incapable of that, too loyal, too desperate for Garrett's approval. But the facts are self-evident. You hanging around with powered people that List was so fond of. And the powered people escaping Sokovia's base after the Avengers attacked."

She knew.

"You betrayed us. You betrayed us all and brought the Avengers down on our heads."

She shook her head and stood up. Coming close – but not too close – she whispered. "I turned Simmons on you with just a tape. Pity I wasn't around to see your reaction for myself. But that is hardly an adequate retaliation to everything you've done."

The voice that spoke up was his, but he had no recollection of opening his mouth. "So you hate me, get in line."

She grinned and it was an ugly sight. "You think I'm going to torture you and then kill you? Oh, no, my dear, I'm going to make you betray and irrevocably hurt every single person you care about. And then, I'm going to watch you fall apart, drowning in hatred to yourself and unable to undo what you've done and knowing that the people you love will never forgive you."

For the first time in his life he felt that surviving might not be worth it.

"I will never do that."

But she only smiled. "Oh, you will. Want to know why?" She leaned close enough, so their faces were an inch apart and whispered, looking him in the eyes. "Dr. List spent months studying the teleporter and what he found was groundbreaking. It's a pity he had no time to test his theory."

He felt his heart sinking down. "What theory?"

She smiled, still standing close enough that he could taste the air leaving her lungs. "He learned how to track the teleporter's quantum entanglement, or, if you need clarification – his teleportation signature. And even though he died, I was able to use his research and imagine my surprise then a month ago there was finally a jump."

Cold gripped his heart and spread in his insides as the realization struck – her pleased smile was the confirmation of his fear. "I know the location of the powered people's base. And this program –" she pulled a phone out of her suit's pocket and turned the screen to show him – "will send the location's coordinates to every news outlet on the planet, to the government and military and to every near-criminal organization fancying itself as scientific – starting with AIM."

His breath hitched as he watched the countdown on the screen. "Unless, of course, I enter the code every twenty-five minutes."

She chuckled and put the phone away. "But first, you and I are going to visit agents Reznikoff and Parsons."

The relief that hit him – the relief that she started not with Skye – tasted bitter.

ooo

To say that he was screwed would be an understatement. He was being blackmailed into betraying people who trusted him, who have helped him.

The people he betrayed John for.

The same people whom he considered as nothing barely a year ago.

The realization would have been funny if it wasn't so serious.

And yes, maybe he would have been okay with betraying them to save Skye and Inhumans, but he wasn't stupid.

He knew that then they were done dooming the remnants of Hydra agents, Ophelia Whitehall would release the coordinates anyway, framing him in the process.

I'm going to make you betray and irrevocably hurt every single person you care about.

He had to play along for a while, until he figured a way how to neutralize her threat.

And if it became necessary, he would betray Hydra agents.

He will pick Skye over everyone else on the planet in a heartbeat.

But the feeling that was starting to settle around his heart was regret.

He didn't regret things often.

ooo

Fourteen months ago

He realized his mistake then he was cornered in the base's hallway and 'escorted' to have a talk with Dr. Whitehall.

He should have run the moment Kaminsky gave him the message from John – message stating that he was being transferred under Whitehall's command. But he was confused and a little scared – he didn't like Whitehall from the moment he met him. Of course, the feeling was not mutual – Whitehall seemed to look at him as if he was a particularly interesting lab rat – interesting, but a rat, nonetheless.

Grant didn't like the feeling that Whitehall's scrutinizing and curious gaze evoked in him.

He knew he should have run, but he waited too long to make a move and so, he was strapped to a rack before a TV screen and his worst fears about Whitehall were coming true.

The Faustus method.

He was going to be subjected to it again.

Of course, he fought. Of course, he resisted. He screamed and threatened and even begged.

And then, when he understood, truly and viscerally understood that John wasn't coming, that John wasn't going to rush in the laboratory to stop the torture and rescue him just like before, then he pretended to give up.

He cried and sobbed and pretended to break, not knowing himself if that was an act or not.

And then he took the offered gun and placing its muzzle to his temple he followed the order without hesitation and pulled the trigger.

Click – the sound of empty discharge that he remembered even through the haze and pain and terror.

And he remembered one more thing – Whitehall's pleased smile as he raised a glass of whiskey and drank from it…

ooo

Eight years ago

He didn't even feel the jolts of electricity that were shaking his body, pulling the strings and making his body obey the external will.

He couldn't distinguish between delusions and reality, his eyes stopped burning ages ago, having become dry as desert sand, and screams, familiar screams, they were so familiar, so intimately known… 'please, Grant' they begged, 'please, stop, please' he begged, but the blurry white figures were merciless, they –

"Stop this now!" The loud command jolted him into awareness – he knew that voice, he did –

"You can't be in he –" Shot rang out causing him to jerk and adrenaline that shot through his body as a response to the threat cut through the fog surrounding him enough that he recognized the figure standing before him – John.

The relief crashed through him, so powerful that it was almost too much for his abused body and he nearly lost consciousness.

John was here. Everything was going to be alright.

He remembered crying as he clung to the John's jacket and then – nothing.

ooo

…"Are you ready to comply, agent Ward?" The self-satisfied tone of the voice didn't even entertain the possibility of negative answer and he obliged.

"I'm happy to comply."

The man's lips formed a pleased smirk as he put the empty glass on the table's surface with a resounding clank.

He felt as that glass – empty… and used.

"You can go, agent Ward. You need some rest after such an ordeal."

The dismissing motion of the hand almost became his undoing. He almost cried in relief and would have broken his character, destroyed all his efforts to deceive the powerful and terrifying man in front of him, but he bit his tongue, bit through it, feeling how blood filled his mouth and not feeling pain at all, but metallic tang centered him, giving him something outside of his tormentor to concentrate on and he only nodded in answer and left the room, each step taking him away from the monster that left him in pieces.

ooo

"Are you ready?"

Her voice broke him out of his memories, and he nodded.

Ophelia Whitehall activated the nanomask, her features being replaced by another's, and tugged at her black wig. "Then let's go."

"I'm happy to comply." The words came unbidden and he silently cursed his tongue.

But she smiled, her eyes staying cold, and said. "We are going to have so much fun together, Grant."

ooo

The trip to the meeting place was spent in silence. As was the trip on the quinjet that arrived to pick them up.

Grant was studiously ignoring McBraid's curious looks directed at Ophelia. Ophelia in turn raised an eyebrow as she surveyed the vibrating with questions McBraid.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend, Grant?"

Her familiarity grated at his nerves, but he only smiled. "This is Meriem, Meriem Drew. We've met each other in a Hydra training camp. Long time ago."

She readily nodded. "After arrest of baron von Strucker I didn't know where to go, what to do. Thankfully, I managed to reach Grant."

McBraid sent him another curious look. "Nice to meet you, ma'am."

Ophelia – Meriem – smiled. "I'm sure I'm going to like you and your friends, Grant."

ooo

"Grant!" Reznikoff's excitement was babbling out as she greeted them, raising her arms and then forcing them down.

Did she really want to hug him?

With a lump in his throat he said, "I heard that some congratulations are in order?"

Reznikoff smirked. "Yep, we did it, despite the doubts that certain parties had about the plan." She glanced at Parsons, who stoically ignored her jab as he stepped forward to shake his hand.

"This is Meriem." He gestured at Ophelia. "She's my long-time friend, but in the last year we lost touch with each other."

He ignored the question that flashed in Reznikoff's eyes.

If it doesn't work out with those people, you come back.

"Welcome to our humble abode." Reznikoff raised her hands again, this time encompassing the hangar and, presumably, the whole base.

He hoped against common sense that he would be able to protect Skye without betraying these people.

But Ophelia's pleased expression as she shook hands with Reznikoff made him doubt that.

ooo

"So, what are your future plans?" He asked as he settled in the chair in Reznikoff's quarters, Parsons and Ophelia taking their own seats.

Reznikoff curiously eyed Ophelia but didn't argue against her presence as he half-hoped.

Damn, she was really trusting him – and extending that trust to 'Meriem'.

Calm down, an opportunity to act will present itself.

"I don't know. I suppose we need to find a new source of weapons." She sighed. "And money. Right now we are fully stocked with food and water, but that's going to become another problem in the next six months."

"Have you considered the Fridge?" Ophelia suggested and it took a conscious effort on his part not to tense.

"What about it?" Reznikoff asked as Ophelia started playing with a glass of whiskey in her hands.

"Fridge wasn't just a prison for powered people and other dangerous persons. It was also the place, where SHIELD stored all the dangerous artifacts. Artifacts that were supposedly destroyed, because they were considered too dangerous. But, of course, SHIELD lied to its agents and kept these items secure. For future use."

Grant knew that it was a trap. Ophelia must have had a plan how to get Hydra agents hurt, framing him in the process.

But he still hadn't figured out a way how to warn Skye – Ophelia was watching him like a hawk.

"That's certainly interesting, but last I heard, Fridge is under a blockade by US Navy and several European ships are monitoring the territory around the base." Reznikoff raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting we take on a whole fleet by ourselves?"

But Ophelia had a plan – as he suspected. "What if I told you I have a plan how to leave the Navy unable to thwart us?"

Reznikoff silently appraised her and looked at him in question. He raised his hands. "Don't look at me, I'm hearing it for the first time." He paused and with an effort forced himself to say as Ophelia glanced his way. "But if Meriem has a plan, it's worth being heard."

Parsons, who kept silent until now, said. "Even if we neutralize the Navy, there are still the security measures of the Fridge itself – it's an impenetrable fortress. Navy and Air Force both declared that the best way to deal with Hand and her people would be to simply wait until they run out of food."

Reznikoff turned to him. "Well, I'm sure that Grant has some ideas about that. How did you storm the Fridge?"

His situation was different. "I jumped out of the helicopter and begged the guards to open the doors as the said helicopter shot at me." He suppressed a shiver at remembering how much effort it cost him to convince Hydra pilot to help him out.

"And they really fell for that?" Reznikoff snorted.

"They were SHIELD agents after all, protecting people is their motto."

Parsons wryly smiled. "Okay, that's not going to work now."

"But we have something that will work better than a false plea for help." Reznikoff took a sip from her drink. "The plasma drill. We can simply make a hole in the walls of the Fridge."

"Okay," Parsons slowly nodded. "Let's say I'm starting to warm up to the idea. So, how do you plan to deal with the Navy?"

Ophelia was silent for several seconds, building the intrigue. "We can use the clocked quinjets to drop the drones that will enclose the base in a circle and start projecting the image we want to the outside viewers."

Not bad, not bad at all. And then Hydra agents would be inside, busy with the artifacts, she will put the base in a lockdown, disable the drones and leave Hydra agents to be arrested by the government.

And he wouldn't be able to do anything as long as she has to put the code in the phone every twenty-five minutes.

He couldn't do anything because he cared about Skye more than he cared about Reznikoff and Parsons.

He owed Reznikoff, he knew that he owed her a lot but… Skye was more important. Important enough to make him a traitor. Again.

"You know what, I like the plan." Reznikoff shrugged. "But first, we need to…"

ooo

"… and this is your room. Meriem, your room is further down the hall –"

"I think we'll be good here." Ophelia leaned close to him and put an arm around his waist.

Her touch burned even through two layers of clothing and his skin crawled as he smiled, putting enough lewdness in it to make Reznikoff cough covering her embarrassment.

"Well, then, I'll just… leave you." She said but didn't move, creating the uncomfortable moment among the three of them.

"Agent Reznikoff?" Finally, Ophelia broke the silence.

Reznikoff ignored her and caught his gaze. "Is..." She coughed and tried again. "Is everything all right?"

He knew what she was asking, what she meant. Ophelia didn't but she wasn't stupid. She didn't tense but Grant knew that Inhumans' fate depended on his next words.

"It's fine." He softly smiled. "Everything is fine."

Reznikoff studied his face for a moment and then brightly grinned. "Well, have a good night." She winked at him and left in a haste. Probably, with a new suggestion to the betting pool.

Whatever. He had another person to be pissed at.

Then the door to 'their' room closed, he turned around to come face to face with her. "You're persistent, Ophelia."

She tsked at him, "Meriem, Grant, it's Meriem, and did you really think that I will let you step out of my sight even for a second? I'm not leaving you any opening to do something that I won't like."

"And how are you going to explain it to others?"

She smiled as she stepped closer and tagged at the lapels of his jacket. "I'll just tell them that I'm so afraid for you – I almost lost you so many times – and I wasn't with you so now I'm overcompensating for that."

He found the strength to answer in the most calm and pleasant tone. "How sentimental of you."

She grinned. "Don't worry, I know you hate me and will kill me with pleasure if I make a mistake. But," she leaned close enough to whisper in his ear, "I won't make a mistake."

She stepped away from him and sat on the only bed in the room. "I trust that you're a gentleman and will leave the bed to me?"

He glared at her as he grabbed the pillow and settled on the floor.

"Thank you."

He ignored her as he shut his eyes and turned facing away from her.

ooo

"You're not sleeping, are you?" The sudden words caused him to open his eyes.

Of course, he wasn't sleeping. And neither was she, bound by the necessity to be awake every twenty-five minutes.

And now she decided to talk.

"No." If he thought that monosyllabic reply would discourage her from continuing, he was wrong.

"What was it like?" She paused. "Betraying Garrett?"

Her words cut in him. But he still forced himself to answer, calm and keeping the rage how dare she? at bay and letting honesty slip out. "It nearly destroyed me."

"Nearly?" Her voice held a note of wonder in it and he suspected that she asked not out of idle curiosity.

After all, she wasn't with her father, was she? If Daniel Whitehall could be called a 'father' after what he's done to her and other girls. Raised them as weapons. Staged gladiator fights. And then cast out the winner because of a single mistake.

Part of him admitted that he felt sorry for Ophelia and if she chose to take her revenge on him, he would have agreed with her right to do so.

An eye for an eye.

But she came after the people he cared for.

She will die for that.

"What helped you recover then? The hacker girl?"

He didn't know why, but he answered. "She fought for me. She protected me. She chose me."

There was a shuddering intake of breath and then, silence.

They kept silent until the dawn.

ooo

The quinjets took their positions and released the drones that were programmed to project the images of the Fridge that quinjets recorded from the previous day. The quinjets also simultaneously were providing cover for the drones against the Fridge's activated defenses, making bullets harmlessly ricochet. Fifteen minutes later and the Navy ships surrounding the waters around the SHIELD base didn't react in any way, prompting Reznikoff to order the start of the second stage of their plan.

He rubbed his face, sleep-deprived and with rage burning right under the surface of his skin – he didn't manage to break free from Ophelia. She was too damn smart.

He leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes, getting ready for a long wait.

It took the drill three hours to cut through the exterior wall of the Fridge. Then a quinjet was used to launch the grenades inside and the avalanche of Hydra agents descended into the SHIELD base.

Two hours later the Fridge was theirs.

ooo

"There are people in here!" Parsons' voice had just a tiny bit of desperation in it. "What are we going to do about them?"

Before Grant could have answered, Reznikoff beat him to it. "We'll live them to Navy to deal with."

But Parsons wasn't so easily persuaded. "Like they've dealt with Hydra or SHIELD agents? These people officially don't exist, and they need medical attention and psychological help after what SHIELD did to them!"

"And we are in no position to give them that help!" Reznikoff stepped close to Parsons and they glared at each other until Grant coughed, redirecting their attention to himself. "I suggest we record the process of releasing the prisoners and dump it in the internet before leaving them at FBI's doorstep. That way the government won't be able to sweep this under the rag." To sweep these people under the rag and make them disappear like SHIELD did.

Parsons nodded and left, as Reznikoff nodded at him in gratitude and hurried after.

"How sentimental of you, Grant." Ophelia murmured from her usual place behind his shoulder.

He ignored her.

ooo

"Look who's here!" Grant stepped in front of hand-cuffed Victoria Hand, causing the Hydra agents escorting her to stop. His heartbeat rose as an old hatred made itself known.

She was the one who gave the order to kill John.

He silently berated himself – he had more pressing problems than settling a score with Hand.

John was dead anyway, what did it matter?

She leveled an impressive glare full of contempt at him and seemed close to spitting in his face. "You won't get away with it, Ward! Coulson will find you and make you pay!"

SHIELD sure had an obsession with making bad guys pay, didn't they?

He purposefully looked straight past her, addressing her guards. "Get her out of here. Make sure to treat her well."

She lunged at him and he side-stepped letting the Hydra agents grab her and drag away.

"That was… underwhelming." Ophelia sighed, standing a step behind him as usual. "I imagined there being a blood. A lot of blood."

"Sorry for not being a bloodthirsty monster." And having other things to worry about.

She glared at him and he enjoyed the fire in her eyes.

"Time for us to go." She looked at him with meaning and he clenched his teeth. The moment he dreaded has come.

But he nodded and they made their way to the elevator.

ooo

"Just one press of the button and these people's fate is sealed." Ophelia tapped her fingers against the console and smirked, raising her eyes to meet his. "How does it feel knowing that they will think it was you who betrayed them?"

He was in no mood to play in her games. "Just do it and let's get out of here."

She pouted. "That simple? Now, now, there's the fun in that?" She pressed a finger to her lower lip and grinned. "I want you to do it."

"What?"

"You heard me. I want you to really feel the moment of betrayal." She patted the console and stepped away. "Come on!"

He made a step almost with no recollection of doing it. And another. And another. Coming to stand before the console he spared a glance towards the security feed from the cameras inside the Fridge and froze.

Someone had already noticed that the base went in lockdown – someone was pounding on the closed doors leading to the elevator shaft and the only exit to the outside. He stepped closer to the screens and saw Reznikoff who abandoned the useless pounding and started jumping up and down and waving her hands in front of the camera. He glanced at Ophelia and realized that from the angle at which she was standing she couldn't see all the screens.

His heart in his throat he stepped back.

One press of the button and these people – people who considered him one of their own, people who trusted him – would be trapped and at the mercy of the government.

The mercy which would be non-existent.

"…iting for? Ward!" Ophelia's annoyed voice reached his ears and he turned away from the screen.

"We don't have all day." She raised an eyebrow at him, and the rage rose in his chest.

"I'll do it when I'm ready. Or you can do it yourself!" He snapped at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, Ward. Just remember the position you're in. And what's at stake."

He did. He loved Skye more than anyone. And cared about Raina and Alisha.

Skye and her people – that's what was at stake. He would do anything for Skye. Anything.

But –

But maybe not this.

His pulse was climbing up and his ears started ringing and the wave of rage rose higher and higher and suddenly with painful clarity he realized – he couldn't betray these agents. Not after everything he's been through with them.

He leaned forward gripping the edges of the console and under the cover of his body flipped the switch opening the elevator doors.

Aware of each beat of his heart he took a deep breath and rubbed his face.

Come on, Reznikoff, come on.

He needed just a couple of seconds of distraction, that's all.

And it sure arrived.

"What are you doing?" The incredulousness in Reznikoff's voice made him turn around with a gun aimed at her head. She stood before the opened elevator doors, her stance slightly defensive.

"I thought you activated the lockdown!" Ophelia turned towards him accusation loud in her voice and pulled the gun out of the holster.

But he was interested only in the phone that she didn't let out of her hands since they entered the control room.

"Lockdown? What's going on, Grant?" Reznikoff's voice was calm and careful, but it cracked on his name betraying that she was beginning to feel scared. Beginning to understand.

"Tell her." Ophelia stepped back widening the distance between them and demanded, the phone in her hand posed threateningly.

And so he ran out of options. "Sorry about that. But you're not going anywhere."

He took a step back, to the console and pressed the button, activating the Fridge's defenses. The monitors clearly showed how the railguns came online and opened fire at the drones that were no longer protected by the quinjets, and the holographic shield around the base was blown to pieces. The image projected to the outside world quivered and broke.

It was going to be only minutes before Navy figured out what was happening and acted accordingly.

He had only minutes to figure out how to save both Inhumans and Hydra agents.

"You –, I knew something wasn't right!" Reznikoff started and stopped herself, her eyes glued to the monitors. Then she looked away from them, at him. "Why? Why are you doing this?"

"It's not personal. It never was." He shook his head, gripping tighter the gun. Ophelia was too far away for him to react and if he started shooting, she only had to drop the phone letting it crack on the floor and the Inhumans' fate would be sealed.

So he continued hoping against hope that Reznikoff would do something outlandish enough to distract Ophelia.

And so he continued to talk not even understanding what bullshit was coming out of his mouth. "But I'm putting an end to Hydra. Once and for all."

"No, I don't believe that!" She shouted, her voice wobbling at the end.

"Come on, you knew about me betraying Hydra long before this! The fact that you didn't tell anyone and continued to trust me is your fault, not mine!"

"So what? You're gonna leave us here for the government to arrest? Is that your plan? We're not gonna get even a trial, you know that!" The pain in her voice continued tugging at his heart, but her eyes were dry and hard.

"Not my problem." He shrugged, only to have her glare intensify.

"Then go on, don't just stand there, finish what you've started!" She flung her arms and rushed him.

He hesitated – deciding how to react – and gave her time to jerk his gun, pressing it to her chest, right in front of her heart. "Come on, shoot me! I'd rather be dead than rotting in a cell!"

He gritted his teeth, gripped the gun until his fingers pulsed with pain –

He needed not that kind of distraction, damn it!

Ophelia didn't want any of them dead, she wanted them alive to be able to appreciate his betrayal – she said that herself.

He glanced at Ophelia above Reznikoff's shoulder and she nodded.

His heart dropped down – idiot!

Calm down and think. Think of something to do.

But there were no thoughts in his head, they were standing so close, he could see her pupils blown wide and feel her erratic breathing transferred through the gun pressed between their bodies. His finger flexed, pressing the trigger and –

He noticed how her hand gripped something under her jacket –

Relief flooded him and second later Reznikoff pulled the grenade from underneath her jacket and let it fly.

ooo

His head was killing him as he groaned and opened his eyes. His vision was doubled as he took in the sight of destroyed doors to the helipad. The only doors leading outside.

He groaned again – thank you, Reznikoff – as he pulled himself upright and looked over searching for Ophelia – there she was, swearing as she shook her head and tried to stand up.

But that wasn't what caught his attention – her phone lay four feet away from her on the floor.

His eyes met hers and for a second they were motionless. And then they both lunged for the phone.

She was faster and dived to the floor, skidding the distance and grabbing the phone, but he was already there and kicked her in the stomach before bringing his foot on her wrist causing her fingers to unclench.

He leaned to get the phone and missed a kick to his knee that dropped him down, but he pushed the phone and sent it scattering far away from both of them.

Ophelia rolled away from him, jumped to her feet and run in the direction of the doors leading to the outside. Did she miss the fact that they were destroyed?

He gripped his hurting knee and pulled out a knife sending it flying at her. She leaned to the side, letting the knife go past her. He swore but in that moment the shots were fired, causing Ophelia to dive away from the exit as the electronic lock (that miraculously survived the grenade blast) was shot to pieces.

He turned to look at Reznikoff, who was unsteadily holding the gun in shaking hands, and jumped down, reaching for the phone.

He slid under Ophelia's return fire and finally grabbed the phone. Twisting to stay under the furious exchange of fire, he crawled under the table and kicked its legs, bringing it down and creating a cover and looked at the screen – fifteen minutes left.

He dialed the number that Skye gave him and after an endless moment there was a dial tone.

Beep-beep.

Come on, Skye, pick up, pick up.

"Grant? Where have you – " Hearing Skye's voice was enough to make him light-headed, but he – they – didn't have time.

"Skye, I need you to hack into the phone from which I'm calling you right now and stop the transmission that will happen in –" he glanced at the screen "– fourteen minutes – the transmission of the coordinates of the Afterlife's location to every government and media."

"What?" Her bewildered reply was interrupted by a sharp intake of breath as she continued. "Understood, don't end the call."

He allowed himself a second to feel relieved and then focused on the situation at hand. "Reznikoff?"

Her angry answer was swift. "What?! I'm kinda busy!"

"Do you have a spare gun?" His was God knows there after the explosion.

"Give me one goddamn reason to give you a gun!"

Oops, she was still pissed. "We don't have time for that – Navy will be here any minute!"

"And whose fault is that?!"

Well, his, but mostly Ophelia's.

"Please?" He tried to sound contrite but wasn't sure he succeeded.

There was a loud swearing and then a gun went sliding across the floor in his direction. He darted for a second to get it.

"What was this shit? Did she blackmail you or something?"

He joined Reznikoff in the shooting at Ophelia's cover. "Something like that!"

"I knew something was off!" And so she decided to follow them, which resulted in their current predicament. Not that he was complaining – for now. It all dependent on whether Skye would be able to stop the transmission. "You could've asked us for help!"

"I couldn't risk it!"

"Idiot! Look where we are now!"

"I'm idiot? I'm not the one who detonated the grenade with us still in the room!"

"Forgive me for trying to save myself! You would've pulled the trigger, wouldn't you?"

"What? No!"

"Excuse me if I don't believe that after what just happened!"

"What happened? I opened the doors so you could come in!"

"And provide you with distraction!"

"What do you want to hear? That I'm sorry? I am!"

There was a new wave of swearing, but before he realized that it wasn't directed at him, it was too late – Reznikoff run out of bullets and Ophelia made a run for it.

Shooting non-stop at him, she scampered to the console and turned off the lockdown. He darted out of his cover and shot at her, but she slid along the floor to the elevator and jumped through the opened doors.

He continued shooting, but bullets ricocheted against the metal of the doors as they closed.

"Damn!"

He kicked the nearby table.

"Forget about her, we need to evacuate!"

He whirled around coming face to face with irritated Reznikoff. "I have to kill her!"

She flung her arms in the air, but didn't lose time on arguing, opting instead to contact Parsons.

He spent a minute locating his gun, as he waited for the elevator to come back.

ooo

"Out of the way!" He tore through the corridors, as Hydra agents bustled around in a controlled panic, hurriedly dragging the artifacts from the shelves and prisoners out of the cells.

Where is she?

The question beat in his temples as he ran.

He could only hope that Skye will stop the transmission, but he, he had a different goal altogether – he was going to kill Ophelia.

And not because she presented a clear danger to Inhumans. And not because she tried to hurt the people he cared about.

No, he wanted to kill her because she almost succeeded in making him hurt the people he cared about.

He ran inside the empty corridor and slowed down. There were no Hydra agents and that meant that she was somewhere here.

Walking carefully and with the gun ready and raised he started inspecting the rooms, but he still missed the moment then she dashed out of the door banging it open and knocking the gun out of his hand.

She jumped down, rolling on the floor. He kicked at her, but she intercepted his leg and tugged, tumbling him down and simultaneously rolling up. Landing on her feet she kicked out the second gun that he just pulled out of his hand and brought the heel of her foot down at his head, he rolled away just in time.

He jumped back on his feet and rushed her. Punch, kick, duck –he got a hit in her ribs, had a second to see her wince in pain before she launched herself at him and whirled around his upper torso. He grabbed at her clothes and flung her against the overhead shelves, but she held on tight and didn't lose her grip on him, hissing and swearing she locked her legs around his neck and pressed on. He clawed at her thighs and hit the wall, hearing her scream but still she held the pressure. His head becoming dizzy with not enough air he changed the tactic and threw all his weight to the fall to the floor. Her scream pierced through the air and the lock loosened, Grant wasted no time and threw her off himself, and just in the direction of one of the guns.

Ophelia fell atop of it, he cursed himself and lunged at her and they went rolling on the floor, wrestling for the gun.

She locked her legs around his torso as he rolled trying to shake her off his back. The gun was in her hand, but he gripped her arm, not giving her a possibility to turn it in his direction. He could feel how her muscles flexed as she strained against his grip.

"Give up!" He breathed out as they continued struggling, but she only hissed and twisted around and bit his ear.

He momentarily lost concentration and her arm got loose from his grip. He drew his elbow behind him, hitting her somewhere and causing her to release her hold on his body.

He rolled away and picked the second gun as he scrambled to find the cover, his ear furiously stinging.

And just in time as the shots came flying.

Waiting for a pause in her fire he dashed out and began shooting. She ran away returning fire. They passed two hallways before they came barreling inside the infirmary and as Ophelia skid along the floor, Grant gripped the door and halting his momentum, managed to remain standing. Locking the doors, he ducked and rolled behind the nearest cupboard.

Just in time – the fire covered the place he was a moment before.

"Son of a bitch!" Ophelia screamed with frustration evident in her voice.

"Did you really think I would let you get away?!" He screamed in answer, gripping the gun.

She just screamed again.

Time to taunt her some more. "How does it feel to fail at your super-evil plan, huh? Remaining Hydra agents are safe and unhurt, I contacted the Inhumans and you're not getting out of this room alive!"

"We'll see about that! And about your precious Skye! After your Hydra friends find out about what you really did, you won't be leaving this base alive!"

"And who you're gonna tell all this – there's no one here but you and me!"

"I'll come up with something!"

Well, screaming was good for the soul but he needed to kill her, fast.

He rolled out from behind the cupboard and exchanged fire with Ophelia who, too, changed her position.

Covering behind some machine, he caught his breath and mentally re-counted the bullets left in his and her guns.

"You think you have figured it all out? You kill me and get to keep both your Hydra friends and Skye? It doesn't work that way! Sooner or later the truth will come out and you will pay!" The shots peppered his cover and he realized that she left her own cover and rushed in his direction.

Come on, just a few bullets left and –

Yes, her clip emptied and Grant jumped up with the gun ready to fire, but she was closer than he anticipated and she grabbed the gun and jerked his arm to herself, unbalancing him and with a punch coming at him from the left. He blocked the punch and letting go of the gun jabbed her in the ribs, causing her to drop the gun – one kick and the gun went scattering across the floor.

She screamed and lunged at him, he blocked and blocked under her unrelenting pressure, until he hit the shelves with his back and ducked, her punch striking a metal.

She screamed in pain and tried to knee him, he blocked her and hit her under the ribs – once, twice, thrice, he dropped her to the floor and kicked in the stomach.

She wheezed, struggling to breathe and he dragged her up, wrapping arms around her neck.

She trashed, kicking and clawing at his arms, but he held on, gripping her neck tighter. She started to trash harder, causing him to turn around and he realized his mistake too late as she pushed her legs against the shelves and somersaulted above his head, getting out of his hold and landing behind him –

The doors blew in sending them both flying and knocking against the wall.

He scrambled upright as Reznikoff rushed inside, when he felt hands grabbing his neck and the edge of something sharp and cold pressed against his skin.

Damn her!

"Stand there you are! Don't come any closer!" Her breath, coming in short and shallow gasps touched against his cheek as he froze, unmoving.

Reznikoff stopped and raised her hands. "Let's not do anything hasty and calm down."

"Hasty?" The amount of emotion in Ophelia's voice made Grant uncomfortable. She sounded close to losing it – and that meant nothing good for him.

"Hasty?" Ophelia said again. "Everything I had is gone! Gone because of him and you're telling me to calm down?!"

She shuddered and Grant felt it going through her body.

"He took everything from me! He ruined me! Father couldn't look at me without disgust hiding in his eyes! I still see my sisters' faces in my nightmares! You can't even begin to understand what he took from me!" She took a deep calming breath, but her hands shook, metal edge straying far away from him and Grant took his chance – he drove an elbow in her ribs and slipped out of her hold.

Ducking low, he dove in the direction of Reznikoff, who gave him a hand and he got up, coming to stand beside her.

Reznikoff re-aimed her gun at Ophelia, who started sobbing, scalpel shaking in her hand.

"I decided to give you some help." Reznikoff said to him.

He shook his head, relief and annoyance still catching up to him. "I had everything under control."

Reznikoff smirked and then she turned back to Ophelia, who doubled over crying, trying to hug herself and sobs were making her body shake, scalpel still tightly clutched in her hand. "Drop the weapon and get down on the floor! I'm not going to repeat!"

Wait, he wanted to say. And he didn't know why he wanted to say that.

She needed to die – and the question was not whether she deserved that or not, he wasn't going to justify it by insisting on some moral reason, no, he had a personal reason. Personal and selfish.

But something was stopping him. Something in Ophelia's anguished accusations, something in the way she was crying right now…

Her sisters.

She said over and over that he took everything from her and suddenly he understood.

It never was about losing her father's approval. It was about her sisters' sacrifice.

By making her lose Daniel Whitehall's favor, he rendered her sisters' sacrifice meaningless. The sacrifice they made to allow her to live.

He took away the only reason she had for existing.

If someone did that to him…

He shivered remembering the endless hours trapped in a cell in CIA's black site, he remembered the sharp edge of paper cutting through his skin –

They almost let it all be in vain, I won't let anyone ignore my sacrifices, render them meaningless, not anymore –

John used to be his only reason for existing.

And John was to him what Whitehall was for Ophelia.

And just like that he saw Ophelia, really saw her, and for a second she looked like his reflection in a mirror and he saw her, trembling, with tears running down her cheeks, and her wide eyes staring at the gun, and the way she gripped the scalpel obviously intending to try to use it, he saw as Reznikoff started to pull the trigger, and he didn't think –

He grabbed Reznikoff's hand jerking it and jumped between her and opened fire.

"No!" Renikoff's shout jolted him as he was falling down and he almost didn't feel the pain as the bullet tore in his body.

In the next moment he felt all the pain as he crashed on the floor, hard, Reznikoff falling after him, sudden screams and shots happening as if in a different reality as his world narrowed down to the pain in his stomach and Reznikoff's hands pressing on the wound and her scream, "I need a medic!"

He started to see how his vision grayed at the edges and gripped Reznikoff's arm. "Don't kill her. Please, don't kill her."

As her hands began pressing harder and she nodded, his vision went out, but he heard, "Take her alive! I repeat, take her ali –"

ooo

Beeping was the first thing he noticed as he regained consciousness. Slowly, he rode out the wave of dizziness and forced himself to remember what happened.

Skye, Fridge, Reznikoff –

Ophelia.

He jerked upright, regretting the motion instantly as his abdomen blew with pain and he clutched at it, fingers finding the bandages.

"Good morning." He turned his head and there Parsons was, seating in the chair with a book opened on his knees.

Grant allowed himself a sigh of relief as he settled back in the bed, mindful of the pain that shot through him.

He ignored the fear that gripped his heart. He didn't know if Skye was successful, but it will have to wait.

Until he gathered what consequences awaited him after setting up Hydra agents to be captured.

He looked around and confirmed that they were in the Arctic base's infirmary.

So Ophelia's plan failed. Reznikoff and Parsons and others made it out before Navy descended on the Fridge.

"Did… did everyone made it?" He ignored the regret that he could almost feel on his tongue. He didn't want to be responsible for any death that he never intended to happen.

"Yes, they're safe." Parsons closed the book with a loud thud that seemed to echo in the otherwise empty infirmary.

"Where is she?" He hated how his voice caught but was powerless to stop himself.

Parsons sighed. "If you mean Reznikoff, she's pacing in the corridor outside. If you mean Ophelia Whitehall, she's alive. In a cell." Unwanted relief coursed through him before he froze at Parsons' next words. "With dynamics turned off."

He gritted his teeth but kept silent.

Parsons looked at him with a defiance. "What? Got nothing to say? But she sure did."

So that was it. Ophelia told them everything. About his betrayal. And about his connection to Skye and Inhumans.

Parsons continued looking at him, daring him to say something, but he saw no point. He wasn't going to pretend that he didn't betray them, that he was ever on the same side as them.

"Still got nothing to say?" Parsons asked with harshness coloring his words. "Say something!" He shouted as he sharply stood up and the chair almost overturned as its legs scrapped against the floor.

He stood, shaking with fury, gripping the book in his hands and looking at him.

Grant finally opened his mouth. "What do you expect me to say? That I'm sorry? That I'm sorry that I betrayed you all? I'm not."

He gasped, but Grant pressed on. "I'm not sorry that picking between you and the people I care about I chose them. And I'm not sorry that I was working against you. Hydra deserves no loyalty and I was never loyal to Hydra."

Parsons was silent as he set his jaw. After a long minute he dragged the chair back and sat in it.

"How long?"

"How long what?"

Parsons gritted his teeth. "How long have you been working against us?"

"Against you or Hydra?"

"Stop. Just stop. Answer the question."

"I don't know. It happened gradually. At first I just wanted to fool Whitehall into believing he was successful in brainwashing me."

"What?" Parsons sputtered. "Whitehall brainwashed you?"

"He tried, but he didn't succeed."

"Oh God… But why?"

Grant rolled his eyes. "Because he – unlike others – understood that I was loyal only to Garret and not to Hydra itself. So he did the only reasonable thing to ensure my continued service."

Parsons deflated in the chair, shock evident on his face and then he rubbed his face and some of the anger returned to his expression.

"And what then?"

Grant shrugged. "And then I kept my head down. Until I met Jemma. She was brainwashed – for real – and I wanted to help her. Then Donnie – who was also brainwashed – happened. And of course there was Raina who had alien genetic markers in her DNA and I was helping her cover it up."

"And how does this woman, Skye, fit into all this?"

His heart lurched despite him knowing that Ophelia must have told them everything.

"She tried to steal the Obelisk – an alien artifact belonging to her people – as I was stealing it too and that's how we met. But I knew about her before that – her father practically raised Raina. I helped her out couple times, one thing led to another and before I knew it, I was actively conspiring against Whitehall. And eventually other Hydra heads."

"And you talk about that as if it's nothing? You brought Avengers to our base! Strucker and List are dead because of you! Whitehall is arrested!"

Grant rolled his eyes again. "You care about them exactly why?"

Parsons choked. "They were our leaders!"

"So was Bloom and I don't remember you liking him."

"It doesn't matter if I liked him or not –"

"But it does! You've realized that Hydra leaders were leading their followers anywhere but to the promised utopia! None of them deserved to be followed, so why are you defending them?"

"I disagreed with them, it doesn't mean I wanted them dead!"

"And what about John?" The name still hurt, even after everything Grant realized.

Parsons finally shut up.

"Let's put aside the fact that he ordered me to kill you just because you dared to defend me and talk about what happened when Ultron attacked the base. He was going to get everyone killed! He didn't even care about me! What makes you think he cared about any Hydra agents? And you're an idiot if you think other Hydra heads actually cared about people in their command!"

"But –"

"Think! Just think. Have any of them ever done anything for someone other than themselves?"

Silence.

"Got nothing to say? That's because I'm right."

Parsons set his jaw. "What about people you've killed while you were running around with the powered people? What about Hydra agents you've killed and then continued walking among us as if you didn't do anything wrong?"

"And what about the people you've killed in service of Hydra? Don't pretend that you're better than me. We both got blood on our hands –

"Do you feel nothing? You killed Hydra agents! Our people!"

"Not my people. I was never loyal to Hyd –"

"Yes, yes, you were only loyal to Garrett! Like that makes it better! We trusted you, we relied on you –"

"And have I let you down? I mean specifically you and people under your command?"

"You shot me and dropped me in the ocean!"

"To save your life!"

Pain shot through his stomach and he leaned back on the pillows, catching his breath as Parsons stood in front of him, fists clenched at his sides.

The door to the infirmary opened and Reznikoff marched inside. "I think that's enough." She turned to the opposite wall and raised a hand waving at one of the cameras.

Suspicion overtook him. "What just happened?"

Reznikoff rolled her eyes as she plopped down on the empty bed next to Grant. "It was my idea – we were translating the live feed of your conversation."

"Translating where?"

"To the population of the base."

"What?"

She huffed. "Believe me – that's the only way to calm down the people."

His incomprehension must have been obvious on his face – damn it, he was trained better than that – because she shrugged. "Ms. Whitehall was screaming and accusing you left and right. Only deaf wouldn't have heard her and the only deaf agent on base was brought up to speed by his teammates. So, that way everyone now knows that Whitehall Senior tried to brainwash you and I think that they might be more open to the idea of forgiving you."

"You had no problem in that department." Parsons bit out.

Reznikoff rolled her eyes again. "I faked my own death to get away from Hydra! Do you really think I'm gonna have a problem with Grant actually betraying them? Us. Whatever. But!"

She raised a finger and meaningfully looked at Grant. "You are so owing me for the stunt you pulled at the Fridge. We barely made it out before Navy came down. Quinjets had to shoot their way out! And dragging your bleeding carcass along was no fun at all."

"Noted." He nodded at her. Now he owed her what? Three times?

Damn.

"If you're done letting your feelings out, Ka'jay…"

Parsons scoffed but nodded and Reznikoff brightened. "Then shoo. Our patient needs rest." She jumped off the bed.

Parsons sent another venomous look at him and shuffled to the exit, his crutch loudly thumping against the concrete floor.

Reznikoff quietly closed the door behind him and leaned on it.

They were silent for a minute.

Then he asked. "On the scale from one to ten how badly do the agents on the base want my head on a platter?"

She snorted. "From one to ten? I'd say 'hundred'."

He winced.

She waved her hand. "Give it a week or two, they'll calm down. After all you did shoot Garrett to save the majority of their asses from Ultron. And you were with them in Novi Grad, going down in that quinjet…"

He didn't have such an optimistic estimations of Hydra agents' mood, but for now he wasn't going anywhere from this bed, so he didn't comment.

Instead he asked. "You seem okay with me being a traitor."

She shrugged. "I knew you were betraying Whitehall, but I assumed you were clearing the way to the top. For yourself. And after Sokovia I thought you were getting revenge. But I never imagined that you were helping the powered people."

He sighed. "I multitasked."

She snorted and suddenly her face stilled, serious expression taking over. "Did you know that I didn't get to use GH-325?"

"What? Why?"

She took a deep breath. "When I told my sister that I had a cure for her condition, she just looked at me and asked, 'where did you get it'? And I… I told her."

She mirthlessly laughed. "I told her that I was working for Hydra for years and that my service was finally rewarded. I finally had a magical drug that can even bring people back from the dead. Of course it could fix her paralysis easily. And she… she didn't believe me at first, she –"

Reznikoff suddenly stopped and looked up at the ceiling. He pretended not to notice how her eyes were shining with tears.

After a minute she continued. "But I was convincing, and she believed that I was telling the truth and… and she said 'no'." Reznikoff took a breath, her voice shaking. "She refused to take the drug that 'was paid for in blood'."

She humorlessly chuckled. "She told me… she said that she had one sister less now."

Her voice caught and she sniffed. "I was furious. I told her that for years it was Hydra who paid all the medical bills, that it was Hydra money that put our sisters through the college and paid for everything they ever needed. I told her that they took the bloody money for years, never asking how I managed to earn them and suddenly she wanted to claim a moral high ground?"

She sniffed again, tears escaping her eyes. "She told me to get out. To get away and never return. To cut all contact with the rest of the family. Or else she was calling the police."

She wiped her cheeks and looked at him. "But you know what?"

She smiled, bitter and sharp, and said. "I would have done it all again. In a heartbeat."

She hoarsely chuckled. "I would have worked for Hydra again. I would have done their dirty work and I would have taken their dirty money. I would have done it all to provide my sisters with the lives they have now, even if it means I will never see them again, and even if it means that one of them detests and hates me."

She wiped under her eyes and grinned. "You know why I'm telling you all this?"

He shook his head.

"Because I know that you would have let us all be arrested or even killed, before you would have let any harm come to the people you care about. I told you all this because I understand. And because it would be hypocritical to condemn you for the same thing that I don't regret doing."

Suddenly her eyes found his and she held his gaze. "I'm giving you a chance to decide if you want to be with us or not, and don't worry about others. I'll scream and hit their heads until they agree to give you a second chance. But… but these are my people now and if you decide to stay with us, you will treat us as we deserve. Not as pawns in the game against Hydra. Not as expendable and worthless. Otherwise as soon as you're feeling better a quinjet can drop you off where you want."

With that she opened the door and left him alone with his thoughts.

ooo

"Sir, you're awake!" The cheerful voice to his left filled him with murderous intentions – the morning was most certainly not good.

He opened his eyes and glanced at smiling McBraid, who plopped down in the not so recently vacated seat.

"What are you happy about?" He grumbled at shining McBraid. "Haven't you heard the news?"

McBraid squirmed. "Well, I did. I mean everyone did."

"And?"

"And nothing. If you ask me, betraying Hydra heads is a community service."

The brat was incorrigible.

"Everyone else is planning to smother me in my sleep. So sorry if I'm not feeling happy."

McBraid scoffed. "No one's going to smother you in your sleep, sir."

Grant just raised an eyebrow.

McBraid sighed. "They'll come around. I'm sure. Just give them time, sir."

He wasn't so optimistic.

People never forgave those who betrayed them.

ooo

Glancing left and right he silently crossed another hallway and leaned on the wall gripping the crutch and thanking the universe that nobody noticed him.

Yet.

He ignored the thought about his inevitable discovery – the base housed almost three hundred soldiers, he was bound to run into one of them sooner or later – and wiping sweat from his forehead forced his uncooperating body to move.

Come on, just one more corridor and he would reach the holding zone.

But his body decided it had enough – his vision tilted, and his legs gave out. Uselessly he grasped at the wall and then suddenly there was someone's shoulder which took his weight and someone's arm caught him and hold him upright.

"What do you think you're doing, sir?" McBraid – of course it was him, the annoying brat – berated him halfheartedly as he helped him cover the remaining distance to his goal.

"I have to see her." He said through gritted teeth riding out the wave of pain.

"Why? She would be more than happy to kill you, if given a chance."

"It doesn't matter. I have to help her." He didn't know how to explain it, how to put what he was feeling into words. "She's... she's like me."

"She's nothing like you." McBraid huffed as they reached the door.

"She is what I could have been if... if I had no one but John." Grant took a breath trying to calm down his heart – he didn't know why he was getting so worked up, Ophelia already did the worst she could – and nodded at McBraid, "Don't let anyone come in, all right?"

McBraid sent him a doubtful look but nodded and Grant opened the door.

ooo

She stood up from her bed and stepped close to the glass, separating her from freedom.

He turned on the speakers using the tablet and shifted on his feet and crutch, feeling how pain in his abdomen increased.

Ophelia looked completely unharmed and relief and fear gripped his heart – he knew how much he was risking if she stayed alive, but… he felt that it was the right decision.

"Why did you do it? Why did you save me?" Her quiet question echoed his own thoughts.

He took some time before trying to put his feelings into words. "We… me and you – we're more alike than I thought. Everything you did, what you've done to me – you did it because I took away your only reason to live. I made your sisters' sacrifice meaningless. I didn't mean to, I didn't know, but… but it happened. And I have to live with that. But you don't deserve to die."

She crossed her arms. "Don't think that you can fool me by fancy words. When I get out of here, the moment I get out of here, I will make sure to ruin your life."

He nodded, not agreeing with her words but acknowledging her right to hate him.

"I know why you feel this –"

"What can you possibly know about what I feel?"

"You feel like your whole world has ended and you're left adrift, drowning without any direction or ground beneath you. You feel like your life has been spent in vain, meaningless and worthless. You feel like you are worthless and there is no end to your pain."

It cost him to speak honestly but he continued. He continued because she fell silent, her eyes narrowing as she watched him, watched him and he hoped heard him.

"The only difference between us is that I had no one to blame but myself but you... you have me to blame – I'm the one who hurt you, who made Whitehall turn away from you. If..."

It was hard to say but he had to – had to because she still watched him and there was something in her eyes, something that gave him strength to say it out loud. "If someone told me a year ago – here's the person responsible for John leaving you behind, responsible for John discarding you like you meant nothing, like everything you sacrificed meant nothing... I would have wanted revenge and I would have done exactly what you did."

And suddenly it wasn't hard anymore. And suddenly it was easy to say it. "I understand. And I want you to know I forgive you."

She flinched like he slapped her, and she turned away from him.

There were voices outside and he knew that he had to go and deal with the consequences of his actions, but that feeling, that utter lightness and peace – they refused to go away.

"This is not a goodbye, Ophelia." She turned her back to him, but he wasn't dissuaded.

He would help her like he helped Donnie and Jemma.

He would help her.

He would help her like no one helped him.

ooo

"– step aside, McBraid! This doesn't concern you!" The argument outside was gaining momentum.

"What are you going to do?"

"It doesn't concern yo –"

"Like hell it doesn't! He's my commander! And he's still your commander!"

"He lost the right to be called that when he turned on us! He killed our comrades! And then lied to our faces that he's one of us!"

"And you're completely innocent of course! You haven't spent years gaining trust of those around you, pretending to be their friends while being ready to kill them when the orders to 'come out of the shadows' were given!"

"That's different!"

"How is it any different? We're all liars! We're all murderers!" McBraid's voice gave out and Grant pushed the door open.

As he entered the hallway and closed the door behind him, he came face to face with a number of Hydra agents. Some of them were familiar to him from Whitehall's headquarters, some – from Strucker's base and some were completely new.

But all of them shut up as soon as they saw him. He used that silence to slowly look every one of them in the eyes – most of them couldn't hold his gaze – and finally said, "I imagine that each of you has a lot to say to me, all of which comes down to one thing – you hate me for betraying you and want me to get what I deserve – a punishment. A punishment enough to make up for all the bad things that happened to you, to satisfy your hurt and desolation you're feeling at Hydra's fall."

"But I can't offer you that. I can argue and shout insisting on my innocence because I was never loyal to Hydra. I can rage and scream explaining that I was avenging myself for every despicable thing that Hydra did to me and other victims. I can drop to my knees and beg for forgiveness because I've come to care about you and never wanted to hurt you, only Hydra heads."

"But none of it matters. You've already made up your mind about me. You found the person responsible for your current state, for your hurt, for your pain. You put a face to the misfortune that fell on Hydra. And no amount of 'I'm sorry' can't change that."

"But I won't say sorry for what I did. I did what I thought was the right thing."

"Did I make mistakes, did I hurt people? Yes. Do I regret what happened to you? Yes. Would I have done it all over again? In a heartbeat."

"Because I know that what I did was done for the right reason. To protect the people that Hydra saw as only means to an end. The people I care about."

"And if it means that I'm going to die today, die because in your eyes I'm the villain, then so be it. I'm done apologizing for having a heart."

He raised his chin and dared someone to stop him as he pushed through the crowd. But Hydra agents were lowering their eyes as he met their gazes and silently parting leaving a wide berth for him.

It took every ounce of his willpower to not stumble as he made his way through the live corridor.

ooo

His abdomen was causing him an agony and the last feet to the infirmary's bed McBraid had to practically carry him through.

As he settled in the bed and didn't resist as McBraid checked his bandages, the only thing he could think of was the realization that he was utterly honest.

It was a startling realization but no longer shocking. Despite what John had told him over and over honesty wasn't useless. In the right hands it was a weapon.

And it was liberating. That feeling of lightness and peace that found him in the Ophelia's cell still refused to disappear and now he knew why – it was born of honesty and was maintained through it.

And however much every instinct in his body screamed against it, however much his training told him it was a bad idea, he realized that it was honesty that gave him Skye and everything he had now.

Had and was afraid to lose.

"I need a phone."

McBraid paused his examination and frowned. "No one has access to any phone or other communication device. Agent Reznikoff forbid it."

So it meant that she had one.

"Go to Reznikoff. Tell her I'm asking."

McBraid frowned further but nodded and Grant's voice caught him almost at the door. "Thank you."

McBraid raised an eyebrow. "For standing up for me."

He softly smiled and nodded again.

ooo

"Here's the phone." Reznikoff brought it herself and Grant sheepishly took it.

As he started to type in the number, he cleared his throat and pointedly gestured at the door of the infirmary. Reznikoff, with an impressive eye-roll directed at him, left and loudly closed the door behind herself.

The call connected immediately. "Grant! Oh, thank God, I was worried sick –"

"Is the location safe?" He hated to interrupt Skye, but he had to know that he wasn't the reason her people were put in danger.

"Yes, I disabled the program, but Grant, what happened?"

It was relief that caused him to get light-headed and he gritted his teeth, riding it out. "Is this line secure?"

"Yes, it is. I'm not an amateur, Grant. Stop delaying."

Okay.

"One of my enemies used List's research to figure out the location of the Afterlife. You need to warn Jiaying that Gordon's teleportation signature can be tracked."

"What? Oh, shit, this is…" There was a shuddering sigh. "I will tell them immediately, but what about you? What happened to you? Are you all right?"

"I am." Her worry about him still managed to surprise him, sending warmth spreading through his body.

"Grant." A warning note in her voice made him squirm.

"I've been shot, but it's nothing serious."

"You've been what?!"

Oops, there went his attempt at not making her worry.

"Grant Douglas Ward." Uh-oh, he was in trouble. "You better start telling me right now what happened or I swear to God –"

He let her words wash over him, lulling him in the sense of security.

ooo

"So, this Skye," Reznikoff grinned with all her teeth visible – and Grant' s intuition told him that nothing good ever came out of this smile – and asked. "Is she your girlfriend?"

He didn't bother with replying, opting instead to stare at the ceiling, but Reznikoff wasn't so easy to ignore. "I take it as a 'yes'." She thoughtfully hummed. "I admit I didn't get a good look at her in San Juan buuut she seemed like a pretty and feisty thing."

"So," she clapped her hands as he continued to studiously ignore her, "she's the reason you weren't interested in Simmons or Mor –" his face must have twitched (he lost any hope of getting it under control and making sure it behaved as spy's face supposed to) because she abruptly changed the direction of her words "or anyone really?"

He maintained his silence. But Reznikoff was easily speaking for the two of them. "Damn, it's a pity that no one's going to win! Do you have any idea how much money is in the betting pool? And now it's all going to waste… Are you sure that you can't pretended to be involved with someone else for a little while so I can win? We'll split the money, of course. Eighty-twenty. Eighty going to me, naturally. What, not good enough? Seventy-thirty? No? Sixty-forty and that's the last offer –"

He groaned and suppressed the desire to suffocate himself with the pillow.

ooo

Hesitant knock on the door brought him out of his contemplations about whether he should stay or break the ties with Hydra once and for all.

"It's open!"

The door cautiously opened and there was Martinez shuffling on the threshold and looking anywhere but at Grant.

"Yes?" Grant remained outwardly relaxed but inside he tensed. None of the base's personnel visited him or the infirmary – with exception of McBraid and Reznikoff who brought 'War and Peace' with her every single time and was testing his patience by reading it to him out loud like he was a child or something.

He assumed that they were still confused and off-balance after his speech outside of Ophelia'c cell.

Ophelia. Another point in favor of staying. He did promise that he would help her – help her survive the realization that Whitehall never cared about her and make sure that she wasn't buried under the weight of that realization.

Meanwhile Martinez cleared his throat. "May we come in, sir?"

The fact that it was a question and the use of 'sir' were promising.

He nodded.

Wait, 'we'?

Martinez shuffled inside as did Jimenez, Correa and a bunch of people – eight in total – that he didn't know, but recognized as having been either in Sokovia, Lebanon or purely Arctic base.

So, this was a delegation?

He suppressed the worry and his climbing pulse.

If they wanted to kill him, they didn't have to come en masse. This was hardly the 'Orient Express'.

It took him a moment to realize that his worry was caused not by his fear of the retaliation.

Martinez cleared his throat again. "We came to… to express the opinion of everyone on base –"

It was caused by his fear of rejection.

"– thought about what Ms. Whitehall said and –"

He was actually afraid that they were going to ask him to leave before he made a decision himself.

"– long and hard about this –"

He was afraid that they didn't want him around after everything he did.

"– and taking everything we now know into –"

He was afraid that they weren't going to give him a second chance.

"– the conclusion that –"

But then again, nobody ever did.

"– like you to stay, sir. If that's what you want after everything that has happened. Sir."

Wait, what?

"You want me to stay?" Surely he heard wrong.

Martinez nodded, sweating and nervous. Others nodded in unison.

"But I was working against you all this time! I killed other Hydra agents! I betrayed you and put your lives in danger not once!"

"And you also protected us and fought together with us." Jimenez argued.

Correa nodded and stepped forward. "You're the only one from Hydra's leadership who actually thought about us. You were ready to die to protect us from Ultron. And you killed John Garrett for the same reason."

His heart constricted.

"And that wasn't an act. Maybe you considered us as an enemy in the beginning, as someone to deceive like you were deceiving Whitehall, but your actions prove that that changed. No one would have risked their life for us repeatedly, if we were nothing to you. And..."

"Yes, you lied and deceived us, but you thought you were doing the right thing. And so did we – many of us were sleeper agents, gaining trust of those around us while knowing that one day we might be given an order to kill those who called us friends and family. And it would be hypocritical of us to condemn you for the same thing we are guilty of."

She smiled and added. "We would be glad if you decided to stay. But the decision is yours. We just came to tell you how we feel about the situation."

He remained in shock long after they quietly left, closing the door behind them without a sound.

ooo

"It's your doing, isn't it?" He asked Reznikoff with suspicion as soon as she entered later that day.

"What?" She blinked at him, but he wasn't going to be fooled.

"The delegation that came earlier today."

She brightened. "Oh, they've already visited you? What did they say?"

He scowled. "You perfectly know what they said."

She settled in her usual place – on the bed next to him – and shook her head. "No, I don't know. But seeing you alive and well, I can hazard a guess."

"Don't deny it – you did something. You… you talked with them and convinced them – I don't know how –"

"And what if I did?" Reznikoff shot back. "What then? Are you going to tell me to take it back? Or are you going to tell Hydra agents that they should take back their offer?"

He seethed but the words that left his mouth were calm. Mostly. "What could you have possibly told them to make them so… so forgiving?"

"I only told them truth, pure truth and nothing more."

"What truth?"

"That you were brought into Hydra by John Garrett, the man who kidnapped you from your abusive family – "

"You told them what?"

"– and there are people who saw firsthand how he treated you – Parsons' speech was very informative in particular –"

Oh God, he was going to kill them. Slowly, painfully, enjoying every second.

"– and the whole deal with the Faustus method was distasteful for a lot of people. I guess it's one thing to know, intellectually, that someone was brainwashed into following Hydra and another thing when you actually know the person brainwashed. And many of them knew Simmons and, of course, Donnie Gill and –"

"– and the case of Raina didn't go unnoticed either. She might not have been the most pleasant person to be around – according to those who actually knew her – but still, again, it's one thing to accept that powered people need to be studied and dissected when it's the people you don't know, but it's another thing when it's one of your own on the operating table. Some people need that kind of a wake-up call. Otherwise, they'll continue being complacent and do nothing –"

"– and I reminded everyone about the things you did for them. The things that not one of Hydra leaders would have done for simple soldiers." She sighed and almost gently ended. "Is any wonder that I managed to convince them to not cry for your blood? To give you a second chance?"

Reznikoff looked at him and sighed again. "I didn't tell anyone about what happened in your family house. I only said that they abused you – which is something that was already mentioned in the leaked conversation between you and Hill."

He finally wrestled down his anger. "John did not kidnap me!"

"Didn't he?"

"No, he didn't." He gritted his teeth. "I went with him. Willingly."

"But you were a minor and arrested."

"So what?" Why did everyone insist that John kidnapped him?

"So why hadn't he just flashed his badge and got you out legally?"

"Because –, because…" There was a reason. Of course there was. John never did anything without reason…

But Grant didn't know the reason.

And Reznikoff sadly smiled. "He did it because he didn't want his superiors, the SHIELD, to know anything about you. He didn't want them to know that he took you and what he was planning to do to you. And that means that he understood that if anyone from SHIELD found out about what he did to you, they would have punished him. Which meant that he understood that taking you was against the law and he still did it. Do you know why?"

Because… because John wanted to help him?

But it sounded weak even in his head.

But still he had to try. Even after everything he found out about John, even after finding out that John let Hydra scientists torture and try to brainwash him, even after all that he still… he still believed that that first time, that first meeting – it was because John wanted to help him.

Because if it wasn't… if John took him not to help him…

"You do understand that even if he wanted to make another Hydra double agent inside SHIELD, he didn't have to risk so much by illegally taking you in the first place. He still could have turned you after legally taking you away from your family. You still would have been grateful to him beyond imagination. But he didn't take you for Hydra."

…if John didn't take him for Hydra…

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"Because you – as you vehemently insist – have never been loyal to Hydra, only to Garrett. Because if he took you for Hydra, he would have ensured your loyalty to a cause, not to a single man. And because then Whitehall wouldn't have tried to brainwash you because he was unsure of said loyalty. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

That John took him for his own reasons. The reasons that had nothing to do with Hydra, SHIELD or anyone else.

John took him because he wanted to make a perfect and obedient weapon. The weapon that would have obeyed only him.

And he did. He thought the world of John. He did anything John had ever asked since the day they met.

"Where did you spent the five years before the SHIELD Academy?"

He jerked. "How did you –"

"McBraid. He heard what Natasha Romanoff was interested in when you run into her in New York's black site."

Damn brat.

He swallowed. "I… I spent five years in the woods. I don't know where. Somewhere in Wyoiming."

Her eyes widened. "The whole five years? Alone?"

He nodded, uncomfortable to share this story. Uncomfortable, like even talking about it was a betrayal.

But John was dead. John never cared about him, even from the beginning.

"John used to visit me, sometimes. But I wasn't alone. I had Buddy."

"Who's that?"

"My dog. He… he was my first friend. And I… I… I killed him." He looked down, not to meet Reznikoff's horrified eyes.

But her voice was calm without a hint of contempt when she said. "Let me guess, Garrett gave you a test. To shoot your only friend to prove your loyalty."

He raised his head to look at her and the only thing he saw was understanding. And suddenly he realized, he was talking to a Hydra agent. Of course, she understood.

"And then he told you that you were going to be a sleeper agent in SHIELD." She shook her head and sighed. 'When did he tell you about Hydra?"

"That day. That was the first time I heard about Hydra."

"Of course. And he told you how Hydra were the good ones and SHIELD – the bad guys."

"Something like that. He said that SHIELD left him to die after a mission ended badly, but Hydra… Hydra nursed him back to health."

"Because Hydra understands the importance of survival." Reznikoff sighed again and rubbed her face. When she looked at him, her expression wasn't sad or judging, it was… it was just tired. Like she heard stories like his many times before.

"You do understand what he did to you, right?"

What John did to him? Yes, he understood. John made him a weapon, ready to be used and never doubting its orders.

"My family… they tore me down. John built me back up. But I don't blame him for the choices I made."

"Choices you made?" Reznikoff choked on whatever she was going to say and raised a hand to nervously tread through her hair. "Okay, I can work with that. It's too early for you to realize anyway…"

She shrugged and smiled – a too cheerful, forced smile – taking the book next to her in her hands. "Where did we stop? Oh, yes, Maria Bolkonskaya…"

As her voice continued torturing him with the narration of the novel – novel that he read once already and didn't need a repeat – he struggled to puzzle over her words.

Too early to realize what?

But her voice was soothing, and he was tired, and he didn't notice how he fell asleep.

ooo

"And you're sure that we don't have to come and get you?" Skye's worry was like a balm on his heart. It made him warm and giddy and…

God, how he missed her. Already.

"Yes, I'm sure. They're treating me well and I need to heal anyway before moving anywhere. And…"

He trailed off, unsure of his own desires and his decisions. Unsure if he really wanted that – to stay with these Hydra agents – or if he was substituting the necessity for his desires. Again. Like he did it many times with John.

He didn't know why but he wanted this decision to be his own, dictated by his own needs and wants and not by those of other people.

"Yes, what?"

Honesty. He had to remember that honesty was the key to everything.

"I think that maybe I should stay here." He paused waiting for her reaction and when there was only silence on her end, he started worrying, okay, panicking. "I mean not permanently, and we will still see each other but, I just thought about Whitehall and other Hydra cells that may pose a threat to you and your people and… Skye, please, say something."

He heard her gasp. "I'm sorry, I just was surprised. And of course you can stay. If you want to. I'm not going to tell you what to do or not. I only want for you to be happy." She sighed. "Will you be happy with these people?"

He didn't know.

But he also knew that he would never find out if he didn't try.

"I don't know."

"Do you like them?"

"Some of them." Even if they could be aggravating. "But they can be really annoying."

She chuckled. "That's what friends are. They can be annoying, and you can argue with them and disagree and fight but at the end of the day they will support you in whatever mess you landed yourself into. They will support your decisions even if they don't always agree with them. Does that sound familiar?"

It did. And his heart constricted as he realized that they tried to be his team, his friends from the beginning and the only thing he did was try and push them away. He tried his damnedest to convince them that he wasn't worth the trouble, that he wasn't worth their friendship and he was rude and horrible and… and it was a wonder they still wanted anything to do with him.

"Do you really think I can be friends with them?"

"Sure, why not." She cleared her throat. "I mean, if someone asked me a year ago if I wanted to be friends with Hydra agents, I would have punched them in the face. But now, now I think that we're all humans and we all make mistakes. Doesn't mean that we should write people off, if they want to change and become better."

"And… and you think I can be friends with them and with other Inhumans?"

Skye sighed. "Alisha wouldn't mind some of your Hydra agents, I think. Raina, well, you know Raina. Others – I think they'll come around, given enough time. And anyway, if we want to survive, we'll need to keep an open mind."

"And you?"

"If they're your friends, I would be glad to meet them, no question."

He felt smile pushing at his lips and he let it. "Did I tell you how much I love you?"

He heard her laugh. "No, not lately. I might need a reminder."

"How big a reminder?"

ooo

"How's our favorite patient?" Reznikoff's over-excited voice made Grant groan out loud.

"Go easy on him, he's injured after all." Parsons grumbled and Grant suppressed a surprise – Parsons never came to visit him since that first conversation two weeks ago, so Grant assumed that at least he was still angry with him, but it seemed that assumption wasn't right – but Reznikoff winced.

They both avoided mentioning the circumstances in which he got shot, but it seemed that avoidance had come to an end.

Reznikoff resolutely was studying her shoes before blurting out. "I'm sorry. For shooting you."

But Grant shook his head. "It's okay. It was my fault for jumping in the line of fire." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry too." For betraying you. "For almost getting everyone captured."

For betraying them.

Reznikoff huffed. "You had no choice, you don't have to apologize."

Grant caught her gaze. "Yes, I do."

He knew that he had to stay to make sure that Ophelia didn't leak the location of the Afterlife. He had to stay to be able to help her realize that Whitehall didn't care about her and stole years of her life like John stole sixteen years of his life.

But that wasn't the reason he wanted to stay. It was because he wanted to stay.

He made his choice – he wanted to be here after all.

She slowly nodded. "Apology accepted."

He smiled, trying to ignore how his heart squeezed – he didn't know why, but he wanted to prove to her that he was worth the chance she was giving him.

"So is yours. And..." She reached in her jacket's pocket. "This is for you, to replace the one you've lost." She outstretched her hand, palm up with an amulet, the exact copy of the one she gave him seemingly so long ago.

He tentatively took it, knowing what this was – an offer. And a promise.

He nodded, closing his fingers around the amulet and suddenly feeling a hard edge underneath the leather. "What –"

He didn't finish as Reznikoff winked at him. "I didn't get to use the doze you gave me, so I'm returning it."

What –

G.H.–325. Of course.

He gripped the amulet and nodded at her, both of them ignoring confused but quiet Parsons.

Reznikoff smiled, relief evident on her face and jumped on the empty bed, Parsons opting to continue standing as he cleared his throat. "Now that you've apologized to each other I want to… I know that Martinez and others elected the representatives to tell you that they were giving you a second chance and I… I want you know that I'm offering you the same. A second chance. A chance to start anew without lies."

Grant swallowed past the lump in his throat. "I'm… I'm touched."

Parsons offered him a hand and Grant shook it.

Reznikoff theatrically sighed. "Now that you're done… We're actually here for a reason other than apologies. And offers."

Grant settled more comfortably against the pillows. "And what is that?"

Parsons straightened. "Whitehall. And the rest of Hydra that is not with us. I'm almost certain that there are more cells around the world that went into hiding. We would appreciate all the help in finding them."

He glanced at Reznikoff, who nodded in agreement.

Grant raised an eyebrow – it was becoming interesting. "And what are you planning to do, when you find these cells?"

Reznikoff's answer was surprising. "Dismantle them either by convincing them to join us or by getting rid of them."

Grant's eyebrows rose against his control. "You're going to oppose Whitehall?"

He thought that he was going to need to convince them to do that. But it seemed that they were quite eager to do it themselves.

They both nodded and Parsons said, "You were right, Whitehall didn't deserve to be followed, none of them did. And Hydra was doing anything but bringing peace. We might be late to realize our mistake, but now that we're aware of it, we're going to put an end to Hydra."

But still… to say that he was shocked was to say nothing. "You do realize that even with the devices taken from Fridge, you may not be a match for Hydra as Whitehall reforms it." Besides the mystery man, whose existence Grant didn't yet divulge to anyone but Su. And part of Chinese government.

"Yes, we know. That's why we're asking you for help." Reznikoff shrugged. "Unless you have other plans."

Making sure that Inhumans remained safe, foiling Whitehall's scheming and finding the mystery last head? That sounded like a plan, all right.

"I might make space in my schedule to accommodate you."

Parsons rolled his eyes as Reznikoff snorted. "We're so grateful that you have found the time for us."

"You're welcome." He said barely keeping the excitement out of his voice.

"Are you sure? Like totally sure?" Parsons said in a worried tone.

"Oh, come on, don't you see, he's practically wagging his tail." Reznikoff said with a lopsided grin.

Grant didn't know whether to feel offended or not at her words. "I am not 'wagging my tail'." He said, settling on affronted. "I don't have a tail."

"Of course you don't. You're not a dog." Reznikof smirked. "You're a wolf."

Well, wolf sounded better, if slightly. "What's the difference?" He couldn't resist asking.

She smiled, sharp. "A dog needs a master, a wolf needs a pack."

Her words tugged at his heart.

A pack, huh.

Parsons cleared his throat. "Getting back on track. Do you have any ideas about what we can do to stop Whitehall?"

Grant slowly smiled, feeling an idea take root. "I have an idea. And you're not gonna like it."

ooo

Headquarters of the United Nations, New York City

July, 31st, 2015

Matthew

"… the last remnants of Hydra present no danger and…"

"Idiots." The soft exhale was quiet enough that he thought he might have misheard, but since he had the same opinion about the topic of discussion, he took an opportunity to strike up a conversation. "What they are gonna do, when Hydra resurfaces again, I wonder."

Natasha Romanoff – and that was her, sitting next to him as the meeting of UN representatives was in session – glanced his way and a smile touched her lips. "They're not going to do anything, but we will. The Avengers will."

He opened his mouth to say that he and his people would like to offer their help when the doors to the hall burst open and people in black tactical gear spilled inside.

He reached for his sidearm when Romanoff's hand grabbed his and she shook her head. He followed her advice and returned his focus to the armed men that were locked in the standoff with the security.

Guns drawn on both sides, the atmosphere heated with every second and delegates and journalists were a breath away from panic, when the doors were pushed open for the second time and the last person Matthew expected to see entered the room.

Grant Ward.

Dressed in jeans and a Henley, in contrast with the delegates in suits and his own people in BDUs, he jovially smiled and raised his empty hands.

"Sorry to crash your meeting but I decided to correct you, since you're wrong – nor Hydra, nor SHIELD are defeated. They both are quite active still."

"How dare you –" The vice-president almost chocked on his indignation. "Surrender immediately!"

Ward simply said. "Can't do. Places to be, people to kill." He exaggeratedly sighed. "I just thought to drop by, inform you of my plans and go on my merry way." He suddenly grinned and Matthew felt unease settling in his stomach. "Seeing as you decided to leave SHIELD free to do what they please, I'm going to take care of them."

"Is that a threat?" The vice-president asked loudly.

Ward only smiled. "It's a statement of the fact. And a promise – as long as SHIELD remains at large, so will we."

"You will be arrested and brought to justice, Ward!" One of the generals present interjected.

"I would like to see you try." Wad's grin was infuriating, and Matthew practically felt his blood pressure rising. Romanoff just sighed and as he glanced at her, he saw how she rolled her eyes.

"Who do you think you are?" General continued, enraged.

Ward grinned. "I am –" And suddenly stopped, his grin disappearing as strange smile lit up his face from within. "I am."

Next to Matthew Romanoff mumbled under her breath. "… a drama queen."

!

!

!

So, this is it, the end.

I want to thank everyone who was with me on this journey!

The sequel is already in the planning stage, but first I'll need to catch up on the AoS (and I really don't find this show enjoyable), but no worries, I'll get to working on the sequel as soon as I can, so stay tuned!