Soon the team got called out on a mission, and like usual Kayla wasn't allowed to go. They usually only called her in for backup nowadays. They all looked freaked out when they came back, so Kayla went to ask Tripp what happened.
"Everything was going fine until this guy showed up" Tripp exclaimed.
"Was he Hydra?" Kayla questioned.
"Most likely. The guy was damn bullet proof. We could have really used you out there today" Tripp stated.
"Not up to me" Kayla shrugged.
"Coulson still won't let you come on these missions?" Tripp inquired.
"Nope, I'm just backup. He hasn't even had the guts to tell me why, I mean who…" She trailed off when Tripp's eyes widened, looking at something behind her.
"He's right behind me, isn't he?" Kayla asked, as Tripp nodded.
"Sir" Kayla nodded, turning around.
"I need to speak to you in my office" He told her, as she quickly followed.
"Has Tripp filled you in with what happened out there?" Coulson inquired.
"Yeah, he said a third party showed up, bullet proof" Kayla replied.
"We've found out he's part of Hydra. He was on the index, but John Garrett supposedly put him down, which was of course a lie" Coulson announced.
"Okay…not really sure how I can help?" Kayla questioned.
"We need you to get info on this guy" Coulson exclaimed.
"How? I have no Hydra contacts" Kayla stated.
"Actually you do…we need you to go speak to Ward" Coulson explained, as Kayla unconsciously stepped back, feeling threatened.
"Well I'd loved to but he's locked up in another country and you guys need me here" Kayla deflected.
"I'd like you to try to understand our point of view…we knew your emotions were unstable and with your telekinesis we decided it was best to not tell you" Coulson continued.
"Not tell me what?" Kayla questioned.
"Ward has been locked up in the base the whole time. He's in Vault D" Coulson admitted.
"…You…why…" Kayla stuttered, running a hand through her hair.
"We wanted to keep him here so we could gain info on Hydra…but he's been less than willing" Coulson told her.
"So what? You want me to go down there and torture it out of him? Because I'm not doing that" Kayla stated.
"Ward says that he'll only talk to you" Coulson answered.
"No…no way…I won't do it" Kayla insisted.
"Kayla, the longer we leave this the worse the situation will get" Coulson proclaimed.
"I don't care! I'm not doing it!" Kayla exclaimed.
"It's not an option. It's an order. I don't want to use force…but I will if I have to" Coulson explained.
"Fine…but on one condition. You don't listen in, no filming, no bugs, no anything" Kayla retorted.
"Done, as long as you comply to my one condition. You don't tell Fitz" Coulson said, shaking his head.
"He has a right to know" Kayla proclaimed.
"If he finds out Ward's in the basement, who knows what he'll do. He could kill him" Coulson announced.
Kayla gritted her teeth as Koenig approached, and started to usher her out of the room and to Vault D. He explained how the barrier in there worked and left her outside the door. She felt guilty whenever she saw him because it reminded her of what Ward did and what he was capable of. She raised her hand to touch the doorknob, but as soon as Koenig was out of view, she pulled back. She was practically shaking, when she turned the live feed on, and it revealed Ward. He was wearing prison clothes, and sitting on his small bed. She could see that he had grown a large scraggily beard, that was far different from the clean cut man she remembered. His hair was messy, and she could tell that he had been working out, his arms even larger than she remembered.
"Have you still not gone in?" Koenig asked, shocking her.
"W-what?" She stuttered, turning the feed off.
"It's been half an hour. Coulson's going to start getting impatient" Koenig explained.
Kayla looked around and realised that at some point she must have slid down the wall. Had she really been watching the live feed for half an hour?
"Okay, okay. I'm going" She stated, standing up and walking towards the door.
"It'll be alright Kayla. He's behind the barrier, he can't hurt you" Koenig told her, as he noticed how reluctant she was to go in.
"It's never stopped him before" Kayla mumbled, as she turned the handle and walked through the door. She saw the lights turn on as she walked down the long staircase, keeping her focus on the floor. Once she got to the end, she reluctantly turned her head to look at him. He was holding his hand up to shield his eyes from the sudden light, but as she approached he dropped his hand, a large smile on his face.
"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes" He stated, a strange glint in his eyes.
She tore her gaze away from him and went to sit down, trying to stay calm. The way he had looked at her…like she was the light in his darkness, made her feel uneasy. He still had the same eyes that she used to look into and feel safe, but there was a tint to them now, probably due to being isolated for six months.
"I've been telling Coulson for months that I was willing to speak with you…to give you intelligence. Did you not know I was down here?" Ward asked slowly, as if not to scare Kayla off.
"Carl Creel. Garrett reported him dead. Turns out he's alive. Do you have any information on that?" Kayla questioned, her eyes still not on his.
"How have you been?" Ward inquired, softly.
Kayla gritted her teeth again, and stood up, turning away in anger.
"I'll give you any information you want…if you answer my questions" Ward called out.
"A question for a question?" Kayla asked, walking behind the chair as Ward nodded.
"Do you have a picture of him?" Ward requested, as Kayla put the picture up on the tablet.
She then walked towards him, as his eyes never left hers. She put the screen up to barrier as he approached, once again trying not to scare her off. As he got closer he could see that her hand was shaking.
"Do you recognize him?" Kayla queried.
"Creel was a boxer, nicknamed the Crusher. Turns out any opponent has a glass jaw when you have steel fists under your gloves. Garrett thought he'd be an asset" Ward informed her.
"How have you been?" Ward repeated, his earlier statement.
"Terrible. What's his power?" She inquired, as she sat back down, unconsciously shaking her leg.
"Once Creel touches a substance, he can absorb it and somehow consciously transform the molecules of his body into that substance…How's Fitz?" Ward asked, hesitantly.
"He's worse. He can't remember a lot of things, stutters all the time and oh yeah, he's started to talk to himself. Why does Creel do it?" Kayla questioned, not missing the pain in Ward's eyes when she told him about Fitz. Fake pain, she reminded herself.
"He enjoys the way it feels...Almost as much as he enjoys killing. Are…are you feeling better now?" Ward asked.
"What do you mean?" Kayla retorted, confused.
"Nothing…When Hydra was communicating with S.H.I.E.L.D., we'd use white noise in the gaps between S.H.I.E.L.D.'s quantum key distribution channels to hide messages. Now, S.H.I.E.L.D. might be gone, but not those frequencies. If Hydra is giving commands to Creel, that'll be how" Ward explained.
"I didn't even ask you a question" Kayla stated.
"I thought it would be useful info" He exclaimed.
"Well we'll soon know if you're telling the truth" Kayla mumbled, and stood up.
"It's true, and so will be every word I say to you for the rest of my life. I'm not asking for forgiveness. I just want to help you" Ward announced.
"You're only going to speak the truth, huh? Fine. Why did you throw FitzSimmons off that plane?" Kayla questioned.
"I thought it was their best chance of survival" Ward disclosed.
"You could have killed Garrett instead" Kayla retorted.
"You're right I could have. And I regret that decision everyday" Ward proclaimed.
"Right, because you care so much about them" Kayla said, sarcastically, approaching him with anger.
"I do…I care about all of you" Ward insisted.
Kayla scoffed, and looked down, as something catched her eye. She saw a strange looking scar on Ward's right wrist, and looked closer at it. She thought she had remembered every scar he had, she thought to herself.
"Coulson didn't tell you. I went through a...rough stretch. First pair of pants they gave me had a...a button on the back. They took that away. But you fold a piece of paper just right, it gets sharp. When they took that away, I started running at the walls" Ward explained, as Kayla had to swallow to keep the bile down that was rising in her mouth.
He had a sick smile on as he told her about all this, which made Kayla want to scream. How could someone smile as they talked about their suicide attempts? Was he still suicidal?
"Why?" Kayla blurted out, her voice shaking.
"I wanted to die, when I heard about all the…I just wanted it to be over" Ward replied, shaking his head.
"All the what?" Kayla asked.
"When I heard Fitz was brain damaged, when Simmons left and…" He trailed off.
"You said you weren't going to lie" Kayla insisted.
"I…I heard about Iowa" Ward admitted.
"…Skye…she was coming down here" Kayla realised.
"I deserved it" Ward told her.
Kayla shook her head, feeling dizzy as she turned away and quickly sped up the stairs, hearing Ward calling out from behind her.
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this long chapter! I can't believe this chapter has over 1,800 words, that's almost a record for me, haha. There's going to be an angry confrontation between Skye and Kayla next chapter as we see what happened when Skye went to talk to Ward in those six months. I think Kayla's feelings towards Ward are pretty screwed up at the moment, and more than anything she's scared of those feelings. Please leave a review:)