The File
Authors Note: Hi Guys, sorry this has taken longer than I thought to get up. I can see this being a 10 chapter story; we are going to the dark side now this is going to get gritty. My favourite quote from Jennifer L Armentrout "Never trust anyone in a game where everyone has something to gain or lose". I have to say I have been inspired by the Lux and Arum Series and probably Fringe as well. Thank you all for your continued support.
Something was off; Grant Ward could sense it he had left Skye sleeping soundly in his bunk. She needed sleep, usually her presence soothed him but sleep evaded him that night so he slipped away to the training area. This was where he exorcised all his demons and processed his thoughts, he jabbed at the bag with serious venom his muscles burning with the effort.
Ever since he and Skye had returned to the bus things had been weird to say the least. He'd been eager to end this to take out Dr Hyde, he needed to do it not only to keep Skye safe but to make him pay for even daring to hurt her in the first place. Coulson had talked him down from such a rash decision reasoning that he at least needed to know where the freak was. He'd gone to ground since his last attempt to kidnap Skye but Grant knew it wouldn't be long until he tried it again. Coulson had put in a call to Fury and pulled in some favours from other agencies in an attempt to track him down but it was becoming very obvious to him that they would only find this guy when he wanted them to. That rankled him greatly he didn't like being on the back foot especially when it came to protecting her.
There was the other problem Skye, it had only been 8 days since she'd been shot and yet Simmons had been able to remove her cast claiming her fractures had healed fully! How the fuck was that even possible her surgeon had told him it would be at least 6 months before she was fully healed. That she would need Physio and be on crutches for months, yet if their interactions earlier that evening were anything to go by that seemed to be bull. She was walking around like nothing had happened; he'd taken the liberty of inspecting her injured leg personally while she quipped about playing doctor. She didn't even wince and the scars that should have been an angry raised red where now faded pink lines. He'd seen a lot in his time with S.H.I.E.L.D but this? This was just wrong it wasn't possible. When he'd cornered Simmons in the lab to say as much she'd brushed him off like he was an idiot and shooed him out of the lab. Fitz looked like he was about to have a heart attack when Grant approached him next and made a very fast escape back to Simmons. Weird...They had to be hiding something from him but what and why? He was part of the team there was no reason to keep things from him, unless...but no surely not. He pushed the thought away Skye was his rookie his responsibility surely they were not keeping anything important from him. They all wanted to keep her safe; the three of them were close.
Coulson on the other hand he was definitely keeping something from him, he was his usual cheery self around everyone. Everyone except May, he'd caught them swapping concerned glances at Skye more often than was necessary it was actually May that set him on edge because it was so out of character. They would disappear up to Coulson's office for "meetings" if he didn't know better he'd think they were a thing now. He shook himself mentally god he was becoming paranoid, maybe some of his lovers characteristics were starting to rub off on him. There was only one way to sort all this out he had to confront Coulson. If he had intel he was not sharing Grant would have to get it out of him, he briefly entertained the idea of sticking his superior with that damn truth Serum but that was probably taking it a little too far.
All of a sudden he ceased his attack of the punch bag, when had this happened? When had he become so suspicious and apathetic towards an organisation that had once been the centre of his universe? He'd trusted his gut his whole life it had never steered him wrong before, something was wrong, Coulson was hiding something from him. He was resolved he'd promised Coulson that his feeling for Skye would not affect his work but right now she was his work. That's what he did wasn't it? he protected people from the bad guys, it was that simple. If S.H.I.E.L.D were the good guys like he'd always believed they were then they shouldn't stand in his way. He relaxed a little at this thought yes this was how he'd look at this, this made sense to him.
All of a sudden he was struck by a very dark thought one that brought bile to his throat and made his stomach clench. They still did not know who had sold them out to Hyde but it had to be someone within S.H.I.E.L.D itself. Skye had combed through the severs looking for any sign of a breech but had come up empty and the girl was a genius when it came to hacking and sticking her nose where it shouldn't be. Coulson and Fury had rigorously interrogated all the agents in on their previous location but had come up empty. Ward had been banned from attending by Fury himself being told in no uncertain terms that if he violated this order he'd find himself chained up on the bus. He'd laughed at that he'd like to have seen them try but he was a logical guy he knew that getting himself in shit would be no help to Skye. Still there was a rat out there unaccounted for most likely at the top of the organization. This was downright scary and infuriating in equal measure, he swung his fist into the back with alarming force. His rage was such that he felt like he could go toe to toe with Thor right now.
He was going to get to the bottom of this, God help the rat because he now had two targets on his list. He'd not felt this dark since his childhood, since he'd first felt rage seep into him like poison colouring his vision red. He'd spent years learning to suppress his darker impulses and now it was all about to come undone. The only thing that kept the darkness from overtaking him completely was the beautiful brunette sleeping peacefully in his bed upstairs. She had replaced S.H.I.E.L.D as the centre of his universe, she was full of light and life and he was drawn to her like she was his own personal sun. She was not polluted like he was; she was much stronger than he could ever hope to be. At first he'd been mad when he thought she'd betrayed them for her ex but now he saw what he could not see then. Skye saw the best in people, she was fuelled by her desire to do what she thought was right without regard for herself. All he could see back then was the recklessness behind her actions, he knew now that had she known what Miles was then she would have come to him. But while there was still a chance that he was a good guy that had made a mistake she'd had to help him to warn him. He still didn't like it but he could respect that, now he knew her better her big heart was one of the things he loved most about her.
He just hoped that after he did what he had to do, she would still see the good in him. Ward took one more swing at the bag before he made his way back to his bunk; all of a sudden he needed to be near her. He slipped quietly back in to bed, she stirred but she did not wake. As he settled her head found his chest, he wrapped his arms around her drinking in her light, her warm and very slowly a different darkness claimed him.
The next day he found himself at Coulson's door, Skye was set up in the lab with Fitz and Simmons, May was on the stick. He raised his hand and gave a brisk knock, steeling himself for what could be a very heated conversation.
"Come In" came Coulson's friendly voice. He looked like he'd had as much sleep as he had; his desk was strewn with files and reports that he was hastening to put away when Ward entered.
"What can I do for you Agent Ward" always so polite, the mood that he was in this actually ticked him off. He'd been on edge for so long that his limited people skills were fast becoming non-existent.
"We need to talk Sir" he kept his voice level.
"About What?" the older agent sounded wary.
"About what the hell is going on around here at the moment" he really had to work not to let his frustration seep into his voice.
"And what exactly do you think is going on Ward?" there was warning in his tone.
"Well for a start Skye's miraculous recovery from an injury that should have had her laid up for a good 6 months. A little weird don't you think? I know we deal with some crazy shit around here but surely you all realise that that is not normal. Every time I try and talk to FitzSimmons about it they damn near jump out of their skins looking like I caught them with their hands in the cookie jar! Surely we should be looking into this" he couldn't keep the frustration from his voice this time.
"Grant I understand you're worried about Skye and we are looking into that. Simmons has checked all of Skye's vitals, the poor girl has run every test in the book and she's come up empty. Perhaps the reason that she and Fitz are so jumpy is because they are tired from all the extra hours they've been putting in to this. It's not just you that's concerned about Skye's well being. I'll admit that this is all a little strange but Skye is perfectly fine, her leg is healed all things considered whatever the reason I'd say it was a blessing. The girl couldn't hack bed rest for more than 2 days what do you think she'd have been like after 6 months! She'd have driven herself mad and all of us with her. We will continue to look into it but it's not top priority at the moment" Coulson had always been good with words, its part of what made him a good leader. Grant would have felt bad if it weren't for the fact that a slight tick in his face had given the older agent away. He was lying but why? He didn't push it at this point he wanted to get to his more pressing issue but he would revisit this later.
"I guess that's a fair point" he swallowed.
"Will that be all?" Coulson shot at him.
"No, I wanted to check where we are with finding out Dr Hyde's location" his tone was all business now. He was Agent Ward now not Grant Ward concerned boyfriend.
"Well I'm afraid I can't really give you any more information than I already have, it's like he just disappeared we have a worldwide arrest warrant out for him. The DOD, NSA, CIA along with S.H.I.E.L.D and Interpol have been searching for him, we've used every facial recognition software we have but so far nothing" Coulson sounded as frustrated as Ward felt.
"He has to be somewhere!"
"Agent Ward it is becoming painfully obvious that that man is not going to be found unless he wants to be. He is extremely intelligent and ruthless a terrifying combination I doubt even Romanoff would be able to track him down. He will make himself known to us and when he does I don't want you running off playing the hero" he took in Wards murderous glare. "Grant I know you want to take this guy down and I agree that is the only thing to be done but like I told you before we need to be smart about it"
"I can handle myself"
"Which is one of the reasons I wanted you on my team but Grant think? What do you suppose Skye will do if you are captured?"
Ward groaned he knew precisely what his impulsive and reckless rookie would do; she'd high tail it straight after him.
"Exactly, she would come straight after you. Which is exactly what he will expect, do not under estimate him. He knows you and he knows her, if he has an implant he will have all the information he needs to trap you drawing her to him. We have to be smart about this he's always been one step ahead of us, we cannot afford for him to get the better of us again!" Coulson rubbed his tired eyes "When he makes his move May and I will be there to back you up" his tone brooked no argument.
"What about our rat problem?"
"Fury and I interviewed everyone who knew your location but whoever this person is, they covered their tracks well. There is no evidence linking a S.H.I.E.L.D agent with the leak. We even had Skye search the system but she came up with nothing, If it were there she would have found it" he was convincing Ward gave him that but his gut was nagging him. Coulson knew more than he was letting on he could feel it, he supposed they thought him a liability. This pissed him off no end but Coulson was right they had to play it smart and so did he. If he wanted to find out what his superior knew he'd have to play the long game, he knew Skye would help but he really didn't want to involve her in this. He wanted Skye as far away from this as possible.
"I'm really not happy about any of this Sir"
"Trust the system agent Ward"
Great he was giving him the company line; ward laughed but there was no humour in it. He had trusted the system, he trusted it his whole life and look where it got him. He got up and left Coulson had shut him down he was getting nothing today.
May crept in as soon as Ward was out of sight. She took in Coulsons exhausted and dishevelled appearance. "He looked pissed" she stated.
"That's because he is pissed, he didn't believe me. We're running out of time Melinda." his voice was strained.
"There's an easy answer to all this you know" her voice was soft but it gave nothing away.
"Easy? There's no easy way out of this. Whatever I do she's in danger even if we find him before he gets to her again. He won't be the only one, while her abilities are bound she's not a threat but if she's activated that all changes. I thought if I brought her onto the bus, trained her up as an agent that we could protect her and now I think it may be the biggest mistake I ever made. I keep thinking what would Will do? But I'm coming up empty" for the first time in a long time he felt exposed, vulnerable even. May walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"She has to know, it's the only way to keep her safe. We can teach her to control her alien side to hide it." always the voice of reason.
"She's not ready for this May"
"Will she ever be?"
He shook his head he knew there would never be a right time to bring this up. He could deal with the fall out, deal with her hating him but he couldn't deal with losing another member of his family. If he told her now she would bolt, she'd leave the safety of the plane and who knew if Ward would follow her. The young agent loved his niece but did he love her enough to give up S.H.I.E.L.D for her and even if he did would she let him? Alone in the world Hyde would pick her up in hours and then what? FitzSimmons had been right she'd become a living lab experiment her parents greatest fear would be realised. He wouldn't allow that, he couldn't some secrets had to be kept and this was one of them.
"No Melinda but we can't tell her now, not while she's in danger. Once we've dealt with Hyde we can look at telling her then. She has to know but not right now" he reasoned.
It had been a day like any other for Skye, she'd been happily surfing and hacking away on her laptop while FitzSimmons whizzed around the lab behind her. Her leg was fully healed which granted was weird but she wasn't complaining. Her thoughts flicked to the night before and she smiled to herself, no she definitely wasn't complaining. She'd missed being connected to Grant in that way and since she'd been out of action for just over a week they had both enjoyed making up for lost time.
Sure Grant had a bug up his ass today but she knew it was nothing to do with her, he was professional as always around the others but when he thought they weren't looking...well that was a different matter. Sure there was a psycho after her for unknown reasons but he had dropped off the face of the earth, she was back with her team and had full use of her leg again. All in all she was in a very good mood and then one email changed it all.
It popped into her personal box just after dinner, an email from Miles Lydon. God that guy had nerve Grant would not be happy about this but the title IMPORTANT caught her eye. Miles might be a sell out and an ass but he'd never hurt her before so she opened it and then her jaw dropped. She stared at the email and then the attachment, she tried to absorb what she was seeing but her brain just could not process it.
"Skye what's wrong?" Fitz had noticed his friend staring at her computer screen, she was frozen her face filled with despair and hurt? When she didn't respond Fitz read over her shoulder his eyes widened at what he saw. "Oh Shit"
"I told you they were liars, a contact sent me this. I know you hate me right now and I deserve it but you deserve answers. I got that stupid tracker off; my contact is willing to meet if you need more information than what is in this attachment. He said he knows your full history he was a friend of your dads. I know I screwed up but I still love you I just want to help. He doesn't trust S.H.I.E.L.D but if you come to our old bar in Austen at noon tomorrow you guys can talk. You need to be alone.
Love You
Miles"
Fitz didn't see the email but he saw the attachment it was the redacted S.H.I.E.L.D file, only it wasn't redacted. It was all their in black and white, Fitz placed his hand on Skye's shoulder as it began to shake. He was lost for words; there was nothing he could say to make this any better. He had known what she was Simmons had needed him to help clarify her suspicions but this? No wonder they hid it from her. His stomach clenched he felt sick, he was not the child everyone thought he was he knew that S.H.I.E.L.D sometimes took targets out but this was brutal.
He saw the change in his friend from shock to sadness to pure rage and hatred. Her eyes were so bright that her normally chocolate coloured irises almost looked blue! Her normally cheery face was twisted with anger, the air around them crackled literally this was not good. He swallowed "Skye you need to calm down, please" he pleaded with her.
"I can't Fitz, they lied to me. He looked me in the eye and lied to me" she raged.
"I know and I'm..."
"Don't you dare say you're sorry" she snapped. The hairs on the back of his neck began to rise, he may know what she was but he didn't know what that meant. "Skye your hands!" he was staring at her balled up fists. Blue electricity danced along her knuckles, she brought them up to her face palms up and inspected them. This was definitely more than static; all of a sudden a bolt left her hand hitting a very expensive piece of lab equipment obliterating it.
"Dear God" exclaimed Fitz, he backed away from her slowly. "Skye I really think you need to calm down"
Shock temporarily broke through the blue haze that clouded her vision; she looked back at her hands the electricity that had surged over her skin before had settled.
"What in the hell was that?" she shot at Fitz.
"I don't know" he was flabbergasted "I think I should fetch Coulson" her eyes flashed again at that from chocolate to electric blue he could see the blue licks of electricity return to her palms. OK right now that was a bad call sensing he needed to change tack "OK you probably don't want to talk to him right now, how about Grant then?" the sudden tension in her face eased at the stoic agents name. "OK stay here and I'll get him and please try not to blow anything else up"
She nodded her now brown eyes shined with tears "What's wrong with me Fitz?"
"I may have an idea but right now you need to be with Grant OK, you need to calm down and then we can figure all this out. Who sent you that file?"
"An old friend" it wasn't a lie just an omission, she felt bad after all it was Coulson that had lied to her not Fitz but she wasn't giving Miles up. He may have screwed up before but he'd just come through for her when her own uncle? Had not. He nodded not pushing her and went to fetch Ward at high speed.
Ward was with Coulson in the lounge when Fitz appeared at the top of the stairs breathless from running. "Ward" he shouted.
Ward looked up from some paperwork he was filling out "You need to come to the lab right now!"
"What's wrong?" he didn't fail to notice the panic in the young scientists tone.
"It's Skye, she's...well you need to see for yourself" Fitz stammered, he was well and truly freaked out. Ward shot up from the couch and made to the stairs to follow Fitz, Coulson trailed behind.
"Sir it may not be a good idea for you to come, she's well...she's..."
"She's what Agent Fitz?" Coulson enquired.
"Well let's just say that pissed would be an understatement, she knows Sir. She knows what happened to her parents an old friend sent her the unredacted file!" Ward shot Coulson a knowing look, he knew something was off around here and he had a nasty feeling whatever Skye had just discovered was about to rock the bus and not in a good way. He raced down to the lab ahead of the others and what he saw stopped him in his tracks.
She was pacing the lab tears sliding down her cheeks thick and fast, when her eyes met his he saw what must have freaked Fitz out. Her eyes! He raced to her side in an instant. He pulled her into his arms and winced slightly when a strong static shock travelled from her to him, he ignored it.
She started to sob big gut wrenching sobs "Please tell me you didn't know, tell me he lied to you too" she looked at him her now brown eyes flecked with blue. "I've never seen that file Skye I swear on my life, I haven't" she studied his eyes those strong brown eyes and she knew he was telling her the truth but it didn't make this betrayal any easier to bear.
"They killed my parents Grant" her voice was thick with emotion.
"Who did?" but even as he asked the question, his heart twisted. In his gut he knew, for the first time in his life he hated his gut.
"S.H.I.E.L.D"
Authors Note: So this is a huge chapter and I'm sorry for the cliff hanger dun dun dah I will try and update ASAP I hope you all enjoy this one. I told you we were going dark.
