AN: So instead of going to Comic Con I moved…not as fun. Anyhow, sorry for the long wait. Thanks as always for the support and feedback, though, as for the review that commented that there was too much Skye/Ward…Why are you reading a Skyeward fic if you don't like copious amounts of said couple? Any who…let's get going.
Disclaimer: I neither own nor do I know Jack.
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Skye watched in amusement as the light from her phone's screen lit up the sharp planes of Ward's face as he skimmed through the different pictures. There was warmth in his expression, a glimmer of mischief that settled the unease that simmered like white noise throughout the room. The couple had taken an inconspicuous position in one of the lab's far corners, simultaneously offering silent support to Fitz while staying out of his way. Ward sat on one of the stools next to her, large frame curled almost protectively over the treasure trove of images on her phone. Skye stood with an arm slung casually across his shoulders. The touch was unassuming and comfortable but she knew its real purpose was to reassure her of his presence.
Gonzales and crew were due any minute, while Coulson had maintained a slight upper hand, Skye knew that nothing in the team's line of work was guaranteed. She had her family back, the idea of losing any of them again was nauseating. With effort she focused on the source of steady heat and support at her side.
Ward shook his head, and looking at the picture, Skye couldn't help grinning like an idiot. She'd talked him into doing a myriad of silly looks that she planned on using as blackmail at her earliest convenience. Sliding passed their matching duck faces, she watched happily as the phone's light reflected off the white of his teeth. Considering his mirrored visage Ward began to scrub a hand along his heavily bristled cheek.
"Hmm, maybe I should shave." He muttered, squinting a little at the picture in deliberation.
"Uh, maybe you should never shave." Skye countered, adding an emphasized, "ever," while giving his shoulder a quick squeeze.
"Really?" Ward questioned, moving the phone to his other hand so he could wrap an arm around her waist, turning to gauge her expression. "You don't like me clean shaven?" Skye opened her mouth to respond, her eyes narrowed at his mocking tone.
"You both ready?" May asked, appearing as usual from seemingly thin air before them.
"What do you think May?" Ward asked, ignoring the woman's question, earning him a slight look of annoyance that cowed people with any kind of sense. "Beard or no beard?"
The specialist viewed him blankly before turning her stare to Skye, who gave her a tight smile that hopefully conveyed something along the lines of 'please don't break him'. A quick inhale of breath that no doubt signified May finding her center and the steely glint turned sarcastic.
"I don't like facial hair." She supplied, honing in on Ward's gaze. "You remember why." Skye pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and bit, trying to stall the smile that threatened to appear with Ward's sudden rigidity against her.
"Right." He finally deadpanned. "Beard it is then."
"Gee-whiz, thanks May!" Skye gave the other woman a wink, as she gripped Ward's shoulder and gave it a little shake. "I do love to win."
"If you want to win that way." Grant muttered, as May left them with a smirk.
"Watch a movie dude." Skye answered with a smile, turning his head and dropping a kiss on his slightly pouting mouth. "Winning's winning."
"Remember the Titan's?" He guessed, sweetly hopeful.
"Not remotely close." She answered, watching as Fitz nodded to himself and then hurried from the lab without so much as a backwards glance to any of them.
"Damn it." Ward muttered, sending one of their couple pics to his own phone as Skye danced her fingertips down his spine.
Coulson appeared in the doorway, looking around to his team, tilting his head a little to listen to whatever a reappeared Fitz was relaying to him. Seeing the couple in the corner, the Director gave Skye a small nod, before giving some kind of approval to whatever their makeshift therapist was saying.
Skye saw Fitz was holding Judas in a careful grasp, small liquid brown eyes peeked up from over neatly trimmed fingernails. Straightening, her arms folded themselves over her chest, as she tried to figure out why the hell Coulson was okaying the primate's presence to this rather dire meeting. Probably noticing her abrupt absence, she saw Ward gain his feet at her side as he too watched the quiet conversation by the doors.
They'd only taken their places by Simmons and May when the sound of many footfalls reached them through the still open doors. Skye swayed slightly so that her shoulder bumped reassuringly into Ward's side. He flashed her a quick grin, wordlessly handing back her phone, before mirroring her cross-armed pose.
Flicking a quick look to her teammates she saw many similar stances before Gonzales and his flunkies came milling into the room behind Coulson and Fitz. The second of which immediately approached Ward, thrusting the slightly trembling bundle of fur towards the decidedly confused specialist.
"I need you to watch Judas during the debriefing." Fitz stated, expression unfathomable.
"Why is he even here?" Skye whispered. In different circumstances she'd find the image of Ward reverently accepting the little marmoset as rather adorable and mildly hilarious, but Gonzales's sharp eyes were tracking every movement and her nerves bristled at the scrutiny.
"It's important." Fitz continued, ignoring her completely. His eyes holding his patient's until the bigger man nodded. "I'll need him later on and you're the only one he trusts to hold him with all these…well."
"I believe the proper term is gits, Agent Fitz." Hunter supplied, from the other side of Ward, holding eye contact with his ex as he continued. "Bloody. Gits."
Ward took Judas and placed him in his favorite vantage place. The crook of Grant's neck was an easy place for the little guy to balance on, with Ward's earlobe acting as an anchor to which he could hold. The result was adorable, and Skye briefly wondered if Fitz hadn't brought his beloved pet for the soul purpose of making Ward look less threatening.
After making sure Judas was comfortable, Fitz turned and began his presentation. Everyone quieting at once to hear his results, and Simmons walking around handing out the corresponding copies of Fitz's report, complete with visual aids. His research was exhaustive and even though Skye knew he was summarizing and putting a lot of things into layman's terms for his audience, she still only caught about one word in ten.
Skimming over the rapt listeners around her, she saw many with her same carefully blank expression, and took comfort knowing she wasn't the only one not keeping up with the class. Coulson was nodding along, having long heard all findings some time ago, and Gonzales either understood or had the world's best poker face.
After several minutes Fitz's voice was interrupted by the rival director's sharp tone.
"Agent Fitz, your due diligence is noted and appreciated, but I think we'd all like to get to the part where we find out the results of your staggeringly thorough research." Skye felt her eyes widen, and she looked quickly to Fitz, who looked like he was seriously considering his chances of throttling Gonzales where he stood.
"You're the kind of person that reads the last page of a book first, aren't you?" Coulson's voice broke in, his tone lightly mocking, dissipating some of the tension on his team's side. When Gonzales opened his mouth to respond, Coulson motioned dismissively, effectively silencing the other man. If Skye took Gonzales's slightly trembling jowls as evidence, she'd hazard that the man wasn't used to such treatment, which only made her grin at him like the Cheshire cat when his flashing eyes met hers.
She expected Ward to be restless beside her, but when her gaze switched to him, she saw him with one hand slightly raised to shoulder height, a small monkey paw resting on a steadying knuckle. He and Judas watched the unfolding events with similar expressions of mild unease. Maybe it was a good thing Fitz had brought the little guy after all. This way Ward had to focus on Judas and not completely on his impending results.
"This is an image of a brain scan of a completely average person." Fitz explained in clipped tones, taking one of the glossy visual aids from his copy of the report.
"How can we determine the-" Bobbi began, ignoring Mack's rumbled warning.
"Skye." Fitz snapped, placing the photo on the table before him with a little more gusto than absolutely necessary. "This is Skye's brain scan before the Mexico incident."
"Hey!" Skye protested rather weakly, quieting at Fitz's irritated glare.
Completely average? Rude.
"Oh calm down, your brain is far more interesting now." He said, waving a hand at her. Ward gave her a little smile and Skye couldn't help but roll her eyes and nod for the presentation to continue. "Right then, this second scan here, is one of our detainees that has been the subject of Hydra brainwashing, here is the scan of a mass murderer we currently hold in The Sandbox, as well as scans of two separate individuals, one a diagnosed psychopath, and another patient with an extreme case of bipolar disorder."
After each description Fitz laid a new multicolored photo image on the table next to Skye's own brain scan. The agents present either leaned over to look or rifled through the stack of papers in their folders to find the corresponding images.
"Agent Mackenzie." Fitz said, causing Mack's head to snap in his direction. "Would you please tell the class what is different in each one of these images?" There was a brief silence before Mack cracked a hint of a smile at Fitz's challenging look.
"Sure thing Turbo, no problem." The big man answered, strolling over closer to the table for a better look at the pictures.
"Turbo?" Ward muttered beside her, drawing Skye's attention back to him.
"Yeah, Fitz and Mack got super close back when Fitz was having a really hard time, you know with everything." She said quietly, pushing away the terrible memories that came with the admission.
"The pod." Ward answered with a jerk of his head, expression cloudy.
"Hey not just that." She hissed as Mack began to describe how the colors and locations of said colors were different in each scan.
"Right." Hunter scoffed lightly, but also kept his voice down. "The team was torn apart, Simmons abandoned him, all while he's got this little impediment of serious brain damage caused by none other than one of his best mate's who's turned psycho killer." Skye leaned around Ward so they could both glare at him until the Englishman uncomfortably muttered something about no one liking change and then resolutely focused on what Fitz was now explaining.
"The variation of color intensity and location signifies parts of the brain that are not working properly, are over-active, or have been altered. Technically, all of these scans should look similar to Skye's."
"Ha! I know that's right!" She crowed, drawing differing levels of amusement and irritation from those around her.
Pulling out his final images, Fitz placed five new pictures below the first set and stepped back, his eyes trained on Gonzales, who stepped forward with a nod. The man's eyes scanned each brain pattern in turn and then looked up to consider Fitz. The Scots waited expectantly as a hopeful teacher does on a normally problem student who shows signs of redemption.
"While the second set of images closely resembles the ones placed, the differences are enough for me to say definitively that they are from another set of participants." Fitz nodded tightly and Skye could feel an almost indiscernible amount of tension coming from both him and Coulson. The frequencies coming from them were becoming slightly discordant as Fitz continued.
"In other words, the scans of ten different people are laying on this table right now?"
"Yes." Gonzales said after a few minutes, looking at the images and nodding once again.
"Six.' Fitz said when the rival director's eyes were back on him.
"Six?" Gonzales questioned, light flashing off his glasses as he dropped his gaze to the glossy photos shining back at him.
"Subjects, yes." Fitz answered, stepping close to the table and motioning at the second set. "These five here? All Ward."
This news caused all those who might have been nodding off to take a collective step in towards the table. Each of Ward's scans was matched with a near mirror image above it. From Skye's 'normal' to brainwashed Kara, bipolar, psychopath, and mass murderer, while in some cases the intensity and placement was slightly off, the wide range of behaviors was closely linked to its control group.
"How is this possible?" Gonzales asked, his gaze boring into Fitz.
"I can't testify to being a specialist in the field, but it's my educated opinion-" Fitz began, only to have Simmons step up beside him to interrupt.
"Our very educated opinion." She supplied locking eyes with Gonzales.
"It's our educated opinion," Fitz continued without skipping a beat, "that Garrett's treatment and years of conditioning on Grant Ward caused a kind of brain washing, or mind alteration. While his tactics took longer to implement and said tactics would take a certain kind of target, the results would be longer lasting and nearly impossible to detect. The results though, are just as effective, and all the more insidious in their nature."
At this point Fitz's eyes flicked to where Ward stood beside Skye. Following his gaze she was surprised to see instead of looking livid, Grant appeared to be sliding certain events in his past into place for the first time. She was starting to feel the first breaths of relief when Fitz kept going, causing that easy breath to stall in her chest.
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Anytime Ward's mind started trying to click over to specialist, emotionless, robot mode, the process would stutter and stop as tickling fur brushed along his neck and the slight warmth from Skye's placement by his side drew him back. So instead of shutting down he began going through the events he'd been through with this new set of facts.
Maybe it was Fitz making him repeat every painful detail of his life until the agony of the memories washed over him like a light mist instead of a gale force storm that crippled and corrupted. Perhaps it was knowing he had no more secrets to hide and therefor had no need for his mask and constant planning. What he hoped though, as she turned to him and he could feel her concern like a balm on open wounds, was that his reconciliation with Skye and the rest of the team had helped repair that which had been so fundamentally broken inside him.
"The enforcement of the conditioning only reinforces the manipulation, but I believe it possible that if his subject ever lapsed in their devotion, John Garrett probably employed a trigger phrase to 'reset' or spur the individual into action."
Fitz's words breezed around him and while Ward could not nail down any certain thing that John used to repeat, he could remember feeling at times as though his actions were not his own. He'd chalked it up to duty and getting the job done, there'd never been any cause to question his actions until Coulson came back from the dead and formed his damn team.
"The conditioning only reinforces the manipulation." Bobbi quoted, leafing through some of the report's papers. "What does that mean exactly?"
"It means that Garrett used Ward's survivalist training to promote and encourage a certain mindset." Simmons answered, gesturing to the blotchy irregular scan that mirrored Kara's. "He'd reward this behavior, pushing it farther and farther." A finger jabbed at the escalating steps until she stopped at the brain patterns most similar to the mass murderer. "It would have altered Ward until the very act of completing missions and taking orders would strengthen the dependency and commitment to Garrett…or whoever met the requirements."
"Like an addiction he'd seek to please whoever he felt a connection or debt to, which is why we think he was able to, at times, deviate from Garrett's orders." Fitz continued, trying his best to correlate his findings with other studies until Ward lost track of which case study proved what. Little by little he felt Skye inch her hand into his.
"All these scans have been recent though." Mack stated, eyes flashing Ward's way. Grant stared back steadily, irritation flaring briefly. Judas was still huddled near the pulse point on Ward's neck and Skye would squeeze every other breath, keeping him grounded, so he breathed deeply until the feeling passed.
As Fitz explained how remembered trauma affected the brain and how Ward's most recent scan was the one that resembled Skye's, Ward switched his focus off his friend to the mustachioed older man considering him from the other side of the table. Being rather familiar with the event, he could tell that Gonzales was wrestling with whatever decision he had to make.
Ward knew how hard it was to refute Fitz's logic, he almost felt sorry for the man.
Almost
"How a mind could even function let alone begin to heal after such a rigorous alteration is astounding." Gonzales conceded, the unsaid was rather obvious. If in fact Ward was healing and not, as Fitz himself had put it, a short circuiting bomb. It was also possible that the team was fudging the results or lying, Gonzales wasn't reckless enough to voice any such concerns of course.
"I take full responsibility for Ward's actions from here on out. And I think it would be to everyone's benefit if instead of attacking each other we agreed to work together." Everyone turned to Coulson as he finished talking, and Ward returned Skye's next squeeze as he fought the sudden constriction in his throat.
All were quiet as the two directors faced off over the little metal table. After what felt like decades Gonzales gave a quick jerking nod and thrust out a slightly gnarled hand for Coulson to shake.
"We'll work out the details later, but as long as you can keep your people on a short leash we should focus on eliminating what remains of Hydra." Gonzales stated, once the men's hands had dropped.
Ward could feel the bristling of those on his team at the implications, but he looked to Coulson and wasn't disappointed by the overly congenial expression on their leader's face. Always a telltale sign that Coulson was about to drop some serious sass.
"Tell me Agent Gonzales, have you ever heard the saying that all villains are the heroes of their own stories?" Instead of a reply, the man's eyebrows converged fiercely upon his brow like two embattled fuzzy caterpillars. Coulson continued to smile at him benignly as he motioned some of the waiting foot soldiers into the room.
"You keep an eye on your villains and leave me to mine. Sounds fair wouldn't you say?" Without waiting for an answer, Coulson continued chipperly. "Great! Now then, I believe we were wanting to discuss a plan for infiltrating the Hydra base and extracting the powered person therein. But before that, I think it best if we all take just a quick break and regroup. Your people are welcome to go to the conference room where refreshments are waiting. Bobbi, Mack, you remember the way. These gentlemen here," a quick motion to the waiting soldiers, "will be able to answer any questions that you may have, so be sure to keep them with you."
Coulson's team then filed out behind him in a tight line, silently winding through the hallways until they reached the rec room. Ward handed Judas over to a grateful Fitz, who immediately broke away from the group with Simmons to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their report.
Skye wrapped lightly toned arms around him and rested her head against his chest. He smiled tiredly into her hair and ran restless fingers across her back. He felt her inhale to say something but Coulson's voice stalled whatever it was.
"None of that right now, you," he ordered, pointing at Ward, "are helping me cook lunch for the team. You," he continued, pointing at Skye, "are going to talk May out of throttling Gonzales to death with her bare hands."
Ward's attention landed on May for the first time since she'd spoken to them in the lab. Her usually level look of distain was replaced with tight lips and narrowed eyes, one of which twitched in a steady deadly rhythm.
"I wouldn't waste the energy on him, one shot that's all I'd need." May fumed, crossing her arms tightly, glaring daggers in the general area where the conference room was located.
"I seem to remember you enjoying beating the hell outta me." Ward prodded, trying to break the tension. He received a flash of teeth more snarl than smile and released his hold on Skye, suddenly considering the need to protect himself.
"Didn't want to waste the bullet." May bit out, fake tones of sweetness sounding all the more menacing with the growl that chased them out.
"O-key doe-key then." Skye said slowly, taking May's elbow carefully and leading her away towards the leather couch and chairs.
"Let's go Ward, wash up." Coulson ordered, hands and forearms already receiving a brisk scrub.
"I'm not much of a cook sir." Ward cautioned, taking Coulson's vacated spot at the sink and beginning to wash.
"We're sticking with simple, I'm good with simple, there's enough meat in the fridge to do cheeseburgers for everyone. Plus I got bored last night and made macaroni salad." Ward's ears perked up at that, everyone loved Coulson's cooking, his macaroni salad was no exception.
"The one with the hotdog pieces in it?" He asked hopefully, drying off his hands.
"Of course." Coulson replied derisively, pulling a large package of hamburger from the fridge, scooping up several spices on his way to the counter where Ward was waiting with a mixing bowl.
"Why did you want me over here Boss?" Ward questioned, dropping his voice so only Coulson could hear.
"Is there any reason why it shouldn't be you?" Coulson responded, eyebrow raised. "Are you unable, in some way, to cook?"
"No, I just-"
"Cooking's a good skill to develop Ward." Coulson steam rolled through Ward's reply while he began mixing the seasonings into the freshly deposited meat in the mixing bowl. "When you're stressed or feeling I don't know, incredibly violent." The Director continued, his hands convulsing on the hamburger until his fingers nearly disappeared from view. Ward watched as Coulson took several steadying breaths and then mechanically began making patties, for which Ward had to scramble to get a plate.
"Like if you were imagining throat punching a certain person?" Ward asked carefully.
"Rightly." Coulson snapped, nearly crushing his next patty into a donut.
"Yes, rightly, of course." Grant agreed, gingerly reaching into the bowl, repressing a sigh of relief when Coulson didn't make any attempts to break the offending hand.
"Yes, so, when these feelings happen, it's a better idea to create something." Coulson continued a little more evenly. Ward watched him with slightly raised brows as the last of the patties was molded into existence.
"Then to listen to our baser natures and destroy?" The specialist hazarded a guess, as the other man moved to wash his hands once again, nodding as he lathered soap and rinsed.
Coulson turned on the stove as Grant rewashed, and when their gazes met, Ward realized somewhat belatedly that this was Coulson reaching out. This was him attempting to mentor Ward as he used to. Drying his hands quickly he scooped up the plate of raw meat and coming over to Coulson, started methodically placing patties into the waiting pan.
"It'd be better if we were outside with a grill." Coulson commented, opening a drawer and handing Ward a spatula. "Wait to flip them, and don't press down, it dries out the meat."
"Yes sir." Ward answered, eyes flicking between the sizzling pan and the man that obviously had something else he wanted to say.
"You tell me, if Gonzales or any of his people do anything that's not 100% above board." Coulson's expression was uncharacteristically hard, and Ward had to fight the urge to smile at this sudden development of protectiveness.
"I can take care of myself Boss, you know that." Ward said finally, allowing a good natured hint of a smile to turn up a corner of his mouth. Coulson in no way seemed swayed by this reassurance.
"The point, Ward, is that you don't have to, not with this, not anymore." The resulting gaze lock ended with Grant giving a ghost of a nod. "Good, now flip the burgers before they burn, I'll grab cheese."
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Woo well, that felt a little rusty but at least we're back on track. Sorry if the brain washing, mind alteration mumbo jumbo made no sense, hopefully I explained it well enough not to completely lose anyone. Let me know what ya'll think! Thanks as always for all the reviews, follows, and favorites!