Chapter Eleven: Fortune Favors the Cold


Grant moved to the engineer's side, noting that the biochemist and Skye did the same. He noticed Fitz was about to press a button that presumably opened the door. Ward's hand shot out so quickly that Fitz jumped. His grip was not painful, but he saw Skye and Simmons tense out of the corner of his eye as if preparing for a fight.

"Not yet," was all Grant said.

Fitz nodded immediately, and Grant released his wrist. It occurred to Ward that the engineer was oddly trusting of his judgment. He did not even ask why. Something compelled Grant to explain anyway.

"We don't know what's waiting for us outside." Grant supposed that was not entirely true. The scientists had seen outside their little cage and probably had a better grasp on the situation. "When you were taken earlier, what did you see?"

Fitz shrugged a bit as if confused by the question. "The plane is not an impressive model. Their technology could use an upgrade, which I found strange because AIM was founded as a group of scientists pushing towards new experimental frontiers."

Grant slowly blinked. What?

Luckily, Skye was far more accustomed to the scientists' mannerisms and possessed the kind of patience to deal with that response that Ward lacked. "No, Fitz. Forget the tech, we need to know specifics involving the guards. How many agents did you see? Were they armed? What types of weapons?"

"Oh," Fitz said, "That makes more sense."

"Perhaps twenty men," Simmons spoke up. "I'm not sure. A couple of them were scientists and did not seem to have any guns at all, but several more were carrying multiple weapons."

"Sidearms like these guys?" Skye gestured vaguely to the dead men on the floor.

"Yes, that's what appeared to be the case."

Skye's face scrunched up as she considered the facts. It was fascinating to watch her transform once more into a serious, dedicated operative right before his eyes. She switched gears easily from flirty and spontaneous to sarcastic and carefree to this, the SHIELD agent the Cavalry trained. He had a feeling many enemies underestimated her based on their first impression, but she seamlessly could become mission-focused at the drop of a hat. Unlike many spies Grant had observed with similar dispositions, the multiple sides of her did not appear to be a farce designed to lower her opponents' guards. She just genuinely seemed to be all those things simultaneously.

Skye turned to him. "Are you really going to make me go out there without a gun?"

Grant decided he was not, but he was bothered about why. As he handed her one of his stolen sidearms, he considered the implications of fearing for her safety. She smiled radiantly albeit smugly as she accepted the gun and checked it for rounds. Grant wished he could say the expression did nothing to him, but he felt his breath catch over such a simple, pleased response to something he did for her. He was becoming truly pathetic.

He turned back towards the scientists to see that Dr. Simmons was staring at him again. He met her gaze this time and held it until she dropped her eyes.

"Are we ready now?" Fitz asked, his finger once again poised to open the door. He looked to his three companions, but he lingered on Grant as if awaiting his approval. Ward bit back the instinctive criticism that he trusted too easily. He wanted them to follow his lead anyway, anything else would just impede his own escape.

So Ward just inclined his head. "Open it slightly so we can assess the potential threats outside first."

Fitz inched the door open and let Grant glance outside. There were only seven AIM employees outside, one of which was a scientist judging by his white lab coat. Grant beckoned Skye closer, so she could see for herself. She met his eyes silently afterwards and raised three fingers, pointed at him and then herself.

She wanted to split them evenly between the two of them, but Ward shook his head. Grant briefly contemplated whether or not he could allow for three SHIELD agents to be at his back, especially now that he had armed one, before finally signifying to Fitz that he should close the door once more. Fitz did so but not without sending him a bewildered look.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Skye turned on him. "What's wrong?"

"Your aim is excellent, right?" Grant asked.

Skye nodded slowly. "Yeah, I would think my shot back at Futurepharm would show that."

Grant ignored that. "There's no reason to divide them between the two of us then. It'll just increase the variables."

"What do you mean?" Skye wondered, but she did not sound like she was disagreeing, just curious.

"We already have the element of surprise, there's no reason to waste it by showing them both of our combatants," Grant began. "And what if one of them decides to go after your scientist friends instead or signal for help?" Fitz and Simmons seemed irritated that Ward was treating them like they were not even there and said as much, but Grant ignored them.

"So what do you want to do instead?" Skye questioned.

"I'll go out alone and engage the six of them. If any of them attempt to run or come at me from behind, you shoot them." Grant spoke calmly and confidently when in reality he was anything but. It was an act of trust to let someone be at his six as his backup, and Grant did not trust anyone but John. Even if he were less suspicious, putting this kind of faith in an enemy was a level of idiocy Ward never imagined he would sink to. Part of him just instinctively believed in Skye though. These types of feelings were going to be the death of him.

Skye could easily choose to shoot him after he dealt with his opponents. Grant did not like to put himself at anyone's mercy, he spent far too much time during childhood at his brother's and mother's and never wanted to feel that way again. But Ward could not help but trust Skye- or really he could not help but want to trust Skye, which was just as dangerous.

When he got out of this, Grant vowed that he would make every effort to avoid this particular SHIELD agent. The thought filled him with dread that he refused to acknowledge.

Skye for her part appeared alarmed by his plan. "You really want to take all six on yourself? You're already hurt." She waved her hand towards his body to emphasize her point.

Ward glared. He could not remember the last time someone underestimated him so much. Six AIM guards would not even be a real challenge even with his injuries. As if summoned by his thoughts, the aching in his shoulder and hands increased. Grant ruthlessly squashed the pain. It was irrelevant.

"I'll be fine," Ward allowed for a pause as if he were considering, "Unless of course, you're worried your marksmanship isn't up to the task."

His blatant attempt to irritate her into agreeing with him worked. For all of her complexities, she really was predictable in some ways.

Skye snorted. "My marksmanship is awesome. It's going to come in handy when I'm saving your pathetic ass."

Grant smirked cockily. "We'll see who saves who." He turned his attention to the scientists and noticed that now both of them were staring Skye and him. What the hell was their problem? Fitz actually opened his mouth, probably to tell him just that, but Simmons elbowed him and gave an obviously fake and strained smile.

"Well, are we ready now?" Her chipper tone eerily reminded him of her attempts to distract him when he kidnapped her by praising his tactical vest. Grant narrowed his eyes, but now she was looking at Skye, who refused to meet her gaze. He was missing something, and by the looks of it, he was not the only one. Fitz rubbed his arm furiously where Simmons had knocked it and sent confused looks to both women without getting a response.

Fitz huffed, "Yeah, let's go."

"Skye, go-" Grant began before Skye brushed past him.

"Way ahead of you, Superspy." She moved to position herself right behind the door. She grabbed the handle and readied herself for Fitz's signal that he was unlocking the door again. Grant wondered how she knew what he was going to say. It was almost disturbing how easy it was for him to work with them. He raised his two sidearms and nodded to Fitz, who pointed to Skye and mouthed "go". In one fluid motion, Skye drew the door back and let Grant stride through already shooting.

Considering he was surrendering subtlety by using firearms, Grant had to make his shots count. Shooting nonlethal areas only would be too risky. He could not afford to waste a shot. Seven rounds in his left gun and nine in his right. He assessed the situation. All six operatives turned to him when the door opened, and the scientist fled to the corner of the room. Two of them drew their weapons and rushed him, so Grant targeted them first.

One, two shots to the abdomen and they were both down before they could fire a shot. One of them stirred feebly from the ground as he reached for his dropped weapon. Ward kneed him in the face as he passed rendering him unconscious. Four left.

Less hasty than their companions, the remaining enemies had drawn back when they saw his approach. All of them were now armed, but Grant was too fast for them. Before their fingers could touch a trigger, he was upon them. He disarmed one quickly and threw away the gun. One assailant jumped on his back, so he flipped him down to the ground and sent a powerful kick to his face. The AIM agent's attack jarred his injured shoulder more, and Grant was certain that it was bleeding again.

The gun-less agent threw a punch that Ward easily dodged. Unfortunately, that move placed him in another AIM operative's line of fire. Before the man could do anything with that, he fell to the ground clutching his leg. A second later his shoulder was also met with a bullet. Skye was going for nonlethal areas it seemed, but that meant she was wasting precious ammo to keep them down. Her gun only had six rounds, now four. At least she was proving valuable as backup.

With only three more attackers, only two of which were even armed, Ward made quick work of those remaining. Grant grabbed the agent he disarmed by the back on the head and slammed his forehead into the wall, knocking him out. He twisted another agent's arm behind his back and stole his gun before treating him to the same fate as his companion. The last enemy was shot by Skye twice in the shoulder and thigh again.

To be safe, he kicked the two that Skye had taken care of to ensure they lost consciousness. He glanced around and did not see any new threat, but that meant nothing. Multiple shots fired should have alerted other enemies- unless sound did not carry room to room on the plane. AIM was comprised of many elite scientists, perhaps they designed the plane to have soundproof walls. An assessing glance at the strange walls backed up that theory. That would explain why no one had come running after all the gunfire. He waited a couple of minutes without hearing anything suspicious and decided that was likely the case.

Grant divested the incapacitated operatives of all their weapons as quickly as he could. He had only used two of his rounds, preferring to conserve ammo just in case, but Skye had just two shots left.

The scientists and Skye approached him with slight hesitance. As soon as they were close, Grant handed Skye two of the guns he had collected. He had plenty for himself already. If he carried any more weapons, they would only be a hindrance. She accepted them wordlessly while she stared at the two agents he shot.

"You aimed for their stomachs," Skye whispered. He voice was tight and higher than usual as if strained, but Ward could hardly see why.

He felt the need to explain himself anyway. "Stomach shots guarantee incapacitation but can also be nonfatal if treated. It depends on whether the bullet hits any organs and which ones as well." Grant explained as if reciting from a textbook, it was cool and calm. He had nothing to be ashamed of. "Given the situation, it's doubtful that either of them will receive that care, but that's not really my problem."

Skye's expression twisted at his words. She almost looked sick. "Stomach shots also ensure the person is in agony and suffers. They're a way to slowly and painfully die."

Grant looked up at her. He felt irritated for some reason. He was not trying to draw out anyone's deaths, he was just doing his job and making sure he survived. No one else was going to, least of all the AIM agents on the ground. "I assessed the threat and made a call. Abdomen GSWs can lead to painful deaths, but bullets in the head or heart always kill. They have a chance now to live because I didn't take those shots."

Grant was starting to feel nauseous himself though he could not say why. It was probably the wounds he received and the subsequent blood loss. Maybe it was just because he was coming down from an adrenaline high. He refused to believe it was due to the fact that Skye was staring at him as if he committed some unspeakable evil. For all the times he had earned her wrath before, she had never looked at him like she was disgusted. Grant could not meet her gaze. Instead, he opted to scan the room.

"You could have just shot their legs or shoulders then."

"That would be a risk," Grant replied as he strode forward and away from the ragtag group. The scientists were disconcertingly silent throughout his argument with Skye. In fact, they were giving her pitying looks for some reason. Just more behavior from them that made no sense to Ward. "They could have recovered or held up well enough to take a shot while my back was turned. Or they could have called for help."

"My two guys had only shoulder and thigh wounds and you managed to knock them out," Skye's voice was raising steadily. She was taking this oddly personally, but Ward could not be sure if it was because of some story or just because she was on a SHIELD self-righteous tirade.

"But if I hadn't guaranteed the first two enemies' incapacitation by targeting their stomachs, I might not have been able to." Grant spoke without looking towards Skye at all. He had something else to deal with.

The scientist was cowering in the corner of the room. When he saw Ward approaching, his sniffling became louder.

"Please, please don't hurt me," he mumbled pleas that turned even more fevered when Grant did not stop.

"Shut up," Ward commanded as he hoisted the man up by his lab coat. "If you answer all of my questions, I won't hurt you."

He could hear Skye as well as Fitz and Simmons questioning him from behind, but he tuned them out.

The sniveling scientist chanted agreement over and over again. Grant's lips twisted in revulsion. Coward.

"I want any important information on this plane. Alien tech, weapon schematics, scientific research, all of it." For good measure, he gave the man a rough shake.

To the scientist's credit, he appeared slightly hesitant- at least he had some level of loyalty, pathetic as it was- before caving. He handed Ward a flash drive as well as some blueprints that appeared to be related to the alien weaponry Kara and he had been sent to retrieve in the first place.

"What else?" Grant demanded as he lifted the coward higher. His shoulder protested the choice, but Ward studiously pushed all his pain aside. "Where will I find more on this plane?"

The stuttered response assured him that he would find what he wanted in the side room by the cockpit. Grant assessed the man's expression for any hints of deception. When he found none, he punched the scientist hard enough in the head to render him unconscious.

Grant spun around to face the disbelieving and disturbed looks of his reluctant companions.

"What the hell was that?" Skye asked.

Grant brushed past them intent on going to the room the pitiful scientist told him about. Before he could pass them though, Skye reached out and yanked his arm back to force him to face her. The move sent shockwaves of pain up his arm. She just had to grab his injured shoulder arm. In fact, Ward could see rivulets of blood trailing down his arm from his shoulder. Grant glared down at Skye furiously, an expression she matched.

"Don't turn your back on me," she snarled looking angrier than he had ever seen her. "What are you doing? We should be trying to escape, not running around terrorizing helpless scientists."

Grant leaned down so their faces were nearly touching. If she wanted rage, he could give her that. He had a lot bottled up. "We should not be doing anything because there is no we. You three can do whatever the hell you want, but I'm going to make sure I have something to show for the mess. So when my S.O. wonders why the hell I went MIA for hours on a mission that should have been simple for me, I can at least have something to give back."

Skye's fury faltered at his explanation. "Won't he just be happy you're okay?"

Grant froze for a second before laughing incredulously. "I know you SHIELD agents love to gather around and sing Kumbaya after a failed mission or whatever, but my S.O. is not going to be glad about anything when I come back a day late looking like someone blew me up. Best case scenario, I stumble across something useful here that distracts him from my weakness."

"Your what? What weakness?" All the rage had drained away as Skye grew horrified. "What are you talking about?" Fitz and Simmons seemed even more troubled now after he said his piece.

Grant was done playing with the SHIELD agents though. "Do whatever you want, I'm going to try to salvage this mess." With that, he stalked towards the cockpit.

He needed distance from them anyway. They were distracting him, being around the SHIELD agents was bad for him. The nauseous feeling returned with a vengeance, but Grant did his best to ignore it.


Stunned silence filled the room in the wake of Zach's departure. The normally bubbly and talkative Fitzsimmons' looked as sick as she felt. The way he spoke, it was like he was expecting punishment for getting captured and hurt. That could not be true though.

Maybe Skye should not have pushed so much. Watching the AIM agents take a bullet to the stomach gave her terrible flashbacks to Ian Quinn shooting her. It had been a year, and she still could not think of it without being reminded of the pain and powerlessness of that moment. Still, that had nothing to do with Zach. Ian Quinn and John Garrett and his cronies were the ones responsible.

Skye needed to focus. She breathed in deeply and concentrated on calming herself. It was time to escape, and Fitzsimmons were counting on her. She could not let Zach distract her.

But it was just so confusing. Everything he did led to more unanswered questions. He saved their lives from the explosion and released them only to run off so soon afterwards. That was not even getting into the ruthlessness and calculating coldness she just witnessed from him. Nothing made sense when it came to him.

Right, focus.

"We need to get off the plane and back to base as soon as possible," Skye spoke hollowly.

"We should go after him," Fitz suggested immediately. "He helped us and now is injured and alone."

"By choice, Fitz," Simmons countered. "And he can handle himself as we just saw."

"Simmons is right," Skye said. Even to her own ears her voice sounded dull and unconvincing. All she wanted to do was chase down Zach, demand answers, and maybe get naked. God, why was it so hard to put him out of her mind? This was so not the time for this.

"You don't believe that," Fitz accused. "It's not right to abandon him. The only reason he got captured was because he wanted to save us."

"He abandoned us," Simmons said. "If he wanted our help, he'd still be here."

Fitz clearly disagreed, but Skye could not listen any longer. She had a feeling if she did, Fitz would be able to convince her. So she took control. "We need a plan of escape. Everything else is secondary."

"Fine," Fitz reluctantly agreed. He walked over towards a window and turned back. "We're tens of thousands of feet in the air though. How are we going to escape?"

"None of us can fly any aircraft, much less one this large," Simmons pointed out rather unnecessarily in Skye's opinion. She never liked hearing what she could not do. That being said, Simmons was right. None of them knew anything about piloting. When they got back to base, Skye vowed she would get a flying lesson from May to change that.

Skye sighed. "We're going to have to jump."

Fitzsimmons' horrified expressions at her suggestion were not something she was likely to ever forget.

"You cannot be serious," Simmons said.

"No, absolutely not," Fitz shook his head.

"We don't know the proper technique involved with jumping-"

"And even if we did, executing that technique while we're hurtling to the ground at an alarming rate is not something I'd like to try."

"Not to mention we don't even know if there's any parachutes!"

"Guys," Skye cut them off. "It's a secret agent, terrorist organization plane. I'm sure there are parachutes. We just need to find them. Let's find the cargo-hold ramp, they should be around there."

Resignedly, the two of them followed her as they went in the opposite direction from where Zach took off. It was not all that hard to find the cargo-hold ramp, and it was even easier to locate the parachute compartment. Fitz had to tweak the controls a bit to give them access, but they managed to do so.

That still left them staring at a pile of parachutes with no clue how to properly use them. Skye wished she had done a jump before, faking confidence for Fitzsimmons could only go so far. The more she thought, the more she began to doubt her plan. Would it be worth the risk or should they just take their chances when they landed wherever it was they were going?

"I can open the cargo-hold, but I still don't think I should," Fitz said as if reading her mind.

"But if we wait until we're on the ground, we might find ourselves surrounded by AIM agents," Skye told him trying to imbue as much surety as she did not have in her voice. The skeptical looks she received made her think she did not do a very good job of that.

Before anyone else could say anything, Zach came barreling down the stairs and into the cargo-hold. He stopped when he saw them just standing around. "You're still here?" He was slightly winded and even bloodier than before, but Skye was not sure how much was actually his.

He did not wait for them to answer him. He strode self-assuredly towards the pile of parachutes. He strapped himself in quickly and efficiently in a way that indicated experience. Of course Seal Team Six had probably done many jumps in his service of SHIELD and Hydra. Skye was starting to wonder rather petulantly what he could not do. She supposed that it worked in her favor this time.

Skye copied his movements, but she must have done something wrong because he was now staring at her.

"What are you doing?" Without letting her answer, he moved well into her personal space and adjusted her straps. His fingers were practical and professional, but they still left a trail of heat everywhere they brushed her body. She knew she should be paying attention for future reference at least, but she found herself staring into his eyes. They were gorgeous, an amber-y brown.

"There," he spoke almost softly before blinking. He raised his voice and looked at Fitzsimmons as well, but Skye noted he did not move away. "What are you doing?"

"Have you ever done this?" Skye gestured wildly to the parachutes and cargo-hold.

"A jump?" Zach asked disbelievingly. He snorted. "Only about every other month for the last decade." It seemed to occur to him belatedly why she would ask. "Why, haven't you done one?"

"Uhh, no. Rookie, remember?"

He turned to Fitzsimmons. "I don't suppose either of you geniuses have ever been skydiving." At their head shakes, Zach turned back to her giving her the captivating stare he was so good at. Skye wondered if he realized he was absentmindedly stroking her shoulder along the straps of her parachute. She did not think so. "Well, it's pretty straightforward. Considering how new you are, you should pull the chute around four thousand feet to be safe." He flicked the ripcord. "That's where you pull."

"See guys," Skye spoke cheerily, "Nothing to worry about."

Fitz scoffed. "Sure, only a forty thousand foot drop with only a folded up cloth to prevent certain death. No problem at all."

Just then footsteps and gunfire sounded from the cargo-ramp entrance. Skye and Zach turned on their enemies with guns drawn, but there were ten of them and little cover in their area.

"Fitz!" Skye called, "Open it!"

But Fitz had already begun to do so. The cargo-hold ramp opened. Zach managed to shoot two of their opponents before his gun ran out of rounds. Skye could hear him muttering cruses over the firefight and the wind blowing. Fitz and Simmons scrambled towards the parachute pile.

The plane shifted and knocked everyone over. Skye grabbed the side of the ramp to steady herself and saw Zach doing the same.

"JEMMA!"

The agonized cry was the only sign she got. Skye turned towards the screaming Fitz, but she could not spy Simmons anywhere. Her eyes darted everywhere, but her friend had vanished. No, no, no…

Fitz's screaming echoed her despairing thoughts. He was struggling into his parachute, fingers frantically stumbling over the straps.

Zach turned around as well with that terrible blank expression. He returned his gaze to the enemy before propelling himself out of the plane. Then he disappeared from sight, too.

Zach had abandoned them again, and Simmons was gone. She was just gone. Skye's thoughts flew in every direction. She felt tear tracks trailing down her cheeks as her heart recognized what her head refused to. Fitz was even worse off sobbing beside her.

The AIM agents were recovering from the shock and would soon begin firing again. "Fitz," Skye grabbed his arm harshly. "We have to go. We have to go now."

"Jemma-"

"Fitz, we don't have anymore time!" Skye screeched. She checked that he was strapped in before yanking him along with her. She pulled him with her and together they jumped into the air.

And then they were free falling.


I wasn't planning on updating so soon, but you guys were so wonderful! I really loved hearing your feedback, it's so inspiring! I like this chapter, and hope it helps make up for another Ward-less AoS episode for you guys. I just can't get over how nice the response I got was. Thanks so much!

As always, please review if you are interested. I'm interested in what you guys think of the Skyeward interactions, the SkyeWardFitzsimmons dynamic, and the plot :)