"Why isn't he in handcuffs," Simmons yells seeing Grant walk onto the bus with the rest of the team. "Are we forgetting how many deaths are at his hand, including almost my own?"
"Agent Simmons, all will be revealed once we reach the conference room," Fury says before Trip leads Rhodey to their holding unit.
Simmons just glares before climbing the stairs. The rest quickly follow her, before they all reach the conference room. They all stand around the main screen as they wait for Melinda, Trip, and Rhodey to join them. Rhodey and Trip quickly join before they are in the air and after a few minutes Melinda also joins.
"I believe this is your story Grant," Coulson says as Tony pulls up the screens of Maria Hill, Pepper Potts and Callie.
"I guess I'll start at the beginning," Grant says, taking a deep breath. "I met Callie during a party my parents were holding when I was seven. She was there with her godparents, the Starks, she became my best friend. It took her a few years for me to open up about the abuse that Christian and my parents put me, Patty and Thomas through. When I was about twelve, she thought it would be a good idea to suggest to my parents that I consider military school. That it would give me discipline and look well on the family if I joined after graduating. Patty was supposed to go to an all-girls school defined on making connections for success and Thomas was supposed to be sent to a boarding school abroad to make international connections, it kept the three of us out of the line of fire. Christian would stay with my parents and be groomed to take over as a senator.
"Unfortunately only Patty and myself got sent away to school, but Patty remained in Connecticut while I was sent to North Carolina. Patty was expected to be home for all major functions during the election season, as my parents were attempting to marry her off to create alliances to push their power. Shortly after St. Patrick's day 1999, Thomas calls me and tells me that Christian is fuming because he heard a rumour that Patty was pregnant with some townie's kid from her school. He was sure that he was going to kill her, that he had never seen him so mad and that mom and dad were gone for the weekend.
"So I hot-wired a car and drove all night till I got to the house. I managed to find Thomas easy as he was in his room. He was attempting to make Christian believe that he wasn't home, he told me that Christian had locked her in the wine cellar in the basement. He wasn't sure where Christian was at this point. So I told him to go outside and wait for me there, before going to the basement to get Patty. She was a mess, crying, all covered in bruises and cigar burns on her arms and legs. I managed to get somewhat cleaned up before convincing her to go outside with Thomas. The next thing on my mind was how to clean up this mess without my parents finding out and us all getting in trouble for upsetting the golden child, so I set the house on fire. Christian's car was not in the garage, so I figure he had gone out. I didn't know he was inside till the firefighters pulled him out. By this time I was already in trouble for the car and taking off from school," Grant says before letting out a breath.
"Christian then claimed it was Grant that hurt Patty and he tried to kill him by setting fire to the house to cover up the fact that he was stealing from them," Callie adds. "The police believed Christian because his parents backed him up and Thomas and Patty knew if they told the truth that they would be punished further and no one would believe them."
"I remember this," Tony adds in. "Christian wanted you to charge with an attempt of murder and as an adult."
"Yes, because Callie was researching lawyers," Pepper adds in.
"Well before I could even be legally charged, Garrett showed up in the visiting room," Grant starts again. "He offered me a chance to stop being the victim and stand up for myself. All I had to do was go with him then all of a sudden men with guns showed up in the visiting room. So I went with him, I thought the lesser of two evils. Looking back now it wasn't, I spent the next five years living on my own in the middle of a forest with only a pet dog to keep my company. I had to learn to do everything for myself. Garrett would show up every few weeks or so to make sure I was still alive. He then began to tell me who he worked for, at first I thought it was Shield but then it turned out to be Hydra. He was saying how Shield was the real evil that left him for dead and it was Hydra that saved him, but now the mechanics were failing. He offered me a chance as Hydra to work for Shield, when I was accepted to Shield his final test was for me to kill Buddy. I couldn't do it, so he did and then told me that I could never show weakness as it would be my downfall. So I did for five years, graduated from Shield academy and worked with Garrett for two additional years before going out on my own for three. Till I heard about Tony going missing."
"Yes, you asked to have a week off," Maria adds in. "I found it a bit odd since you never asked for time off. Your reason being you need time to recharge, you had been going non-stop for those five years."
"So you came to look for Callie," Pepper says looking at him. "Since Tony was the only true family she had left."
"Wasn't that hard to find her, she was taking the Stanford Law by storm," Grant says smiling. "Already battling parents and the courts about custodial arrangements and consequences for the elite. Also at the same time digging her nose into underground arms dealings."
"What," Rhodey, Tony and Pepper yell before turning to look at her.
"5 years, I've managed to keep that secret," Callie says before glaring at him.
"So, I spot her on campus, leaving the law library when a couple of thugs approach her," Grant continues. "I guess they didn't like Callie digging into their side business?"
"Obadiah," the three add-ins.
"Where the hell was her security detail," Tony asks as he looks at Pepper. "You were supposed to have a security detail on her at all times."
"Hey, I am perfectly capable of defending myself against frat boys," Callie interjects.
"I am not sure," Pepper explains. "At the time all attention was on finding you. I will look into it."
"No need, Obadiah had cancelled it the second Tony was in the air," Grant says. "A waste of resources according to the files."
"Man is lucky he is dead," Tony snarks under his breath.
"Back on focus," Coulson reminds as he looks at Grant.
"She can defend herself, the lessons from Happy managed to keep them at bay," Grant starts up again. "But three two-fiftyish muscle guys against one seventyish girl isn't what I would call a fair fight. They were mercenaries, so I stepped in and managed to incapacitate them. Though I was thanked by an almost punch to the jaw."
"Can't blame a girl," Callie retorts. "I thought you were another goon."
"Never said I did," Grant replies. "It took all of five seconds for her to realize it was me."
"Then I did slap him," Callie amends.
"I deserved that one," Grant adds. "I took all of about an hour of her questions before I broke down and told her everything that had been going on since she had last heard from me."
"It took me all of thirty minutes to convince him that Garrett was no better than his parents or Christian," Callie clarifies. "It took even longer for him to understand the meaning of Stockholm syndrome."
"Let's not start on that again," Grant pleads.
"It makes complete sense," Simmons adds as they all look over at her. "He kept you hidden from the world for almost ten years. During the first five years, the only person you interacted with was him, your sole survival depended on him not telling where you were. Your time in Shield also depended on him not telling anyone the truth and you knew at any time he could out you and you would be back in jail. To survive, you had to do whatever was ordered by you, even if you knew it was wrong. You killed Eric because if you were found out to be involved in the breakout at the fridge, Hand was at the order of Garrett, so were many others. At the same time, your new task became keeping Callie safe, as you said yourself and Fitz and I have seen Garrett did not like weaknesses interfering with his plans."
"Jemma is right," Fitz starts looking at him. "You could have killed us, but you launched that Medipod to keep us safe. Why else would you have calibrated it before sending us out of the plane."
"After you found Callie," Tony starts. "You haven't let go, even though you knew you would be putting both your lives in danger. You needed someone who knew the real you, not just a game piece in the Shield versus Hydra game."
"She is what has kept you human," Melinda concludes. "We all do terrible things but what makes us different from the true monsters is the ability to connect with others and show empathy."
"Which explains his low personality scores and why he worked so well as an individual specialist and not a team player," Maria says.
"Now where are the true reports about these last five years," Fury asks looking between the young specialist and the young lady on the screen.
"Safe in a highly encrypted server," Callie says looking at him.
"Agent May," Fury says looking at her. "Do you think Andrew should have some time in his busy schedule?"
"For a case like this," Melinda says. "He may clear it, though classes did just start up again."
"I get things ready for his arrival," Maria says as she is seen making notes.
"Uh," everyone but Coulson says.
"Dr. Andrew Garner is a dear friend to us," Coulson starts. "Works some pretty miracles on those who need psychological help."
"Nope, no way," Grant says, shaking his head. "I am not letting some shrink into my head."
"I don't think you have a choice," Callie says looking at him. "Makes you feel any better you can probably drag Patty and Thomas with you. Maybe create a psychological profile on Christian. It could come in handy."
"Again, no way," Grant says looking at her.
"Consider it your debriefing," Fury says looking at him, "You are going to need a long debriefing session."
"I could always do the debriefing session," Rhodey volunteers as Grant groans.
"Those are your only options," Maria adds in. "Or I could be telling Romanoff what you said about her."
"Uh," Grant groans again. "Fine, I will take the shrink. Though you better not tell Romanoff."
"Wait what did he say about Nat," Callie, Pepper and Tony asked.
"He called her eye candy," Maria says as Grant facepalms himself.
"Channeling Tony," Rhodey and Pepper ask.
"Something like that," Grant says after running his hands through his hair.
"Maria, can you also see if Clint and Nat have some free time to go over some extra defensive maneuvers with Callie," Tony says. "She still tends to piss off the wrong people."
"Already on my notes for the team meeting," Maria says. "Though Pepper may already be looking into a personal defence trainer."
"Have a few candidates that I will have them interview with Happy," Pepper replies. "Are we adding into a new bodyguard?"
"I can hear you three," Callie exclaims.
"I think Tony is thinking more along the lines of a suit," Rhodey add-in.
"Plus she does have her own Shield trained specialist," Maria contributes. "He blends in pretty much anywhere."
"We will work on that security plan once we figure out any main threats," Tony concludes. "Hasn't been many highly pissed-off elites."
"True, her threat assessments have been low," Pepper reads off. "Though there is that gala that Patty has on the books for the Children's Hospital, there was a last-minute addition."
"Not," Grant, Callie, Rhodey, and Tony started.
"Yup," Pepper says. "Maria, do you think you can provide some assistance?"
"Absolutely," Maria says before turning. "Coulson, up for some community assistance?"
"Against an evil senator," Coulson says before looking at his team. "Count us in."
"We should be landing in about 6 hours," Melinda says looking at the flight patterns.
"I'll have vehicles waiting," Maria says before they all hang up.