Chapter 2: Misled

Grant Ward thumbed over the black hard drive with the SHIELD logo on it. He was waiting in the HYDRA base (or rather, Cybertek) by the New Mexico/Mexico border to finish the next stages of engineering the GH325 serum for the super soldiers in Garrett's army. He wasn't aware of any of the activities that the 2 scientists in the lab were doing, and he didn't care. He just felt empty inside.

He remembered how casually Skye entrusted him the hard drive while in the Hub, right before HYDRA's big reveal and the end of his life as Agent Grant Ward, SHIELD agent. He remembered feeling free from the burden of playing two identities at the same time, but also feeling dreadful at how Skye and the rest of Coulson's team would react to his true identity.

He never witnessed Coulson's reaction, nor May's, nor FitzSimmons'…only Skye's. And hers was devastating enough. The pure hatred, sadness, and anger written on her face were enough to make his heart drop every time he recalled those hours with her. It was the last time he saw her before Coulson snuck in to the Bus and rescued her with Lola.

Ward sighed. This was it. This was the hard drive that highlighted his mission for the past 10 years, ever since he was enrolled with SHIELD and undercover with HYDRA, to save John Garrett. The man he knew to be the only family he has was dying, and as a family member, he couldn't let that happen. Ever since he heard Elliot died in a car accident when he first joined the Academy, he knew that John was the only solid family he had left. He couldn't let him die. Sure, John was very strict and many times inappropriately cruel in his actions towards him and his HYDRA team, but so what? He was family, and he had a mission.

But…Skye and Coulson's team, they were family too, and they made sure he knew that. And up through the HYDRA reveal in the Hub, he was starting to believe that maybe this was what it felt like to be a part of a real family. One with a parental figure who would do anything for his kids, and a siblings who annoy the heck out of him but care and love for him when he needed them most. One with a guardian ninja who would protect their family from any harm, and would be a silent pillar of support.

And most of all, a girl who trusted him and cared for him like no other, his—as cheesy poetic as it sounds—his light in his darkness. He felt complete when he could be Agent Grant Ward and Skye could be—well, Skye. His Skye. The way she smirks at him, corners him in his own futile arguments, the way she makes him want something more with her. It's a different want than what he feels with Garrett—that "want" feeling was approval, no looks of disappointment, and avoiding punishment, literally.

That "completeness" feeling he felt with Skye and the team was something he began willing to protect, just a little more time, before hell from HYDRA broke loose. All in all, he wished HYDRA didn't have to come out of the shadows—he never swore allegiance to the corrupt organization, but worked for it because of Garrett. He wished he could stay as Agent Grant Ward of SHIELD, just a little longer—hell, he would've been comfortable just staying that, as along as Garrett found another way to get the serum to save his life. That was just a mission—this is…family? But wasn't John family too, like he just thought?

And then there was Garrett's voice in his head.

The straight version of you was your cover. You can never be that man. That man never existed.

They will never forgive me, he thought. If Skye hasn't, then they definitely haven't, and she understands me the most.

Ward sighed again. There's no turning back now. It's too late. After he learned that it was Garrett who ordered Skye to be shot, he wanted out of his mission with HYDRA. No one, not even his father-figure, can lay a finger on Skye, his girl. But when Garrett threatened to truly kill her if he thought of leaving his mission and HYDRA, he had no other choice but to stay. For her safety, and for being able to keep watch on her—he would do anything to keep her safe.

That was his main goal now: keep her safe, even if it means she hates his guts. It's too late to save himself from the quagmire he's in, but at least it's not too late to save her, even if it's at a distance.

…

Skye ran into his office, eyes pleading with anger and sadness. Coulson wasn't surprised at her barging in, but he wore a look of shock as she plopped herself down on the chair in front of him with fierce determination. It was even more than their hunt of Quinn before their trip to Italy, before she was shot.

"Where did you get this?" she asked.

He continued watching her face for any more flinch of emotion, and sighed. "While you were plugging your flash drive to map the computers, I found it on the floor as we were fighting those Centipede soldiers. Seems that we got more than we bargained for."

She shifted her eyes downward, unsure of what else to say. "He—he wasn't lying about his family…"

Coulson agreed. "That much we know. I just hope that everything Garrett has instilled in him hasn't wiped out his own free will yet."

She moved in her seat and spoke, "Remember a long time ago, what you told me in Hong Kong after we escaped from Scorch?"

He smiled. "You can save someone from themselves if we get to them early enough."

"At first I didn't completely believe you," Skye started. "I was so used to moving around and having supposed 'families' leaving me that I thought I was a lost cause—no one to care, no one to believe in me, until you and the team. You gave me that second chance at a family, and I'm forever grateful. You made me believe that I could be a part of something, and that I could be loved and cared for." She brushed the wetness from her cheeks. "I just wonder if Ward ever got that same belief and care for him from Garrett. He sure as hell didn't get it from his family."

"Garrett is very capable of making you feel wanted in the beginning, but in my years of working with him, it's always been about personal gain in the end," Coulson said. "He would make sure that others knew that it was him and/or his team who completed an operation. You saw him recruiting Ward in juvie. And now…"

"…Ward was just another piece of completing his personal mission," she finished for him. "He was misled from the beginning in thinking he belonged, and he owed. [sat up straighter] We need to save him. We can't let him be used any more by Garrett, let alone get executed by the man he sees as a father-figure."

Coulson got up and sighed, sitting on his desk. "I just hope what we saw on the drive is all true, and no other secrets. I hope he really is just 'misled'. I still don't trust him."

"I don't trust everything he is either, but I can trust one thing," Skye asserted. "He loves his brother, Elliot. And deep down, I think he does care for us, our team, too. We need to show him that. Especially when he thinks his brother is dead, when he's clearly not, according to the files. We can free him from the path he thinks he has to take. And how many other HYDRA agents are also parts of Project G.A.R.R.E.T.T.? We need to stop this operation before it goes too far. It starts with Ward."

Coulson stepped over and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know you're feeling guilty—"

"No, I'm not," Skye finished for him. "I want to start over. Once we finish taking down HYDRA, everyone here should start over. I'm not saying his actions were forgivable; I'm not saying to trust him or anything like that. But even starting in a correctional facility, where he can find a new purpose other than following blind orders and past hurts, is a start. Maybe after a long enough time (looks at Coulson), things can start looking new again. He can finally be the real Grant Ward again, whether or not serving as part of SHIELD."

"He was your SO; this was the toughest for you to handle," Coulson said. "You see the good in everyone. That's what make you, you."

"The world's never going to be the same for better or for worse. But even those with worse crimes the justice system gives them a chance. Maybe it's not just for them, but…also for me too."

Coulson was about to comment, but Skye's phone started to alarm. She quickly looked at it and scrolled through the screen. "I finally found the next base of mobilized operations for HYDRA. Looks like their computers show they're moving operations in the next 12 hours to another upgraded facility," she spoke, looking up at Coulson briefly. "They're in New Mexico."

He nodded at her and started walking towards the door. "We need to move. Now."

Skye nodded and pressed her phone shut, following suit. Ward's discussion will need to resume later; they have a mission to complete first.