Sorry, I didn't update on Tuesday, I was ill, and my writing skills suck when I'm ill, so instead of giving you the worst chapter in history, I decided to wait until I was mostly better :)
Also some relevant trivia, apparently Maynard's name has been changed to Christian, and he's appearing in episode 6 this season (why does time have to drag so slowly!)
Guest (1): Thank you, I am enjoying writing it. Thanks for the review!
Guest (2): I completely agree :)Thanks for the review.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except an Agents of SHIELD DVD when they finally decide to sell it in England! :(
Drowning
"No, you will," Grant replied, trying to figure out what manoeuvres he could use to get himself out of the situation. He had always been pleased with his ability to think clearly in all circumstances, unfortunately when it came to Skye this was not generally the case. It was a pity, he mused, he had tried not to, but whenever Ward had pictured meeting his brother again he had always imagined making Maynard pay for what he had done.
Then he remembered that he always tried to never go anywhere unarmed, he'd managed to sneak a scalpel from the lab earlier. This is what fear does to you, he reminded himself, it makes you forget important details. If I want to be a specialist again, I have to regain control of my emotions.
He pulled out the scalpel and threw it at what he was sure was Maynard's leg.
His childhood tormentor gave a yell of pain and fell backwards. Before Maynard had time to react Ward leapt up and punched Maynard in the head; he crumpled to the ground.
Seeing stars, Ward stared frantically down the deep dark abyss that had featured regularly in his nightmares since touching the Berserker staff.
"Skye, are you still there?" he shouted.
"Yes," she replied weakly, coughing violently. Ward searched his mind back to what he'd seen in his investigation of the house and grounds earlier.
"Give me a minute," he told her and raced towards the greenhouse. The door was already broken and the majority of its contents ransacked, however it seemed that no robbers had had the need for the old rope hanging on the wall. Ward wasn't sure if it would hold Skye's weight, it was more than slightly damaged, however he also knew that Skye wouldn't be able to last much longer.
"Skye, can you catch this and wrap it around yourself?" he demanded.
"I think so," she sputtered. "But I'm so cold, I don't think I can keep going for much longer,"
"You're going to have to," Grant muttered, tying the rope in a knot one handed, and throwing it down to her. It bounced off her head and landed with a splash in the water beside her; she threw it over her head and let it sit under her arms, her movements were jerky and slow, and he could hear her teeth chattering, the frightening sound echoing off the walls.
"Skye, you're going to have to use the walls to push yourself up, I don't know if I'll have the strength to pull you up with only one of my arms," he told her, tying the other end of the rope around his waist and gripping it with his left arm. "Ready?"
Skye made a noise, presumably in affirmation and he began to pull, Skye tried to push herself up on the walls with her hands and feet, but was exhausted and even with the adrenalin surge could barely move. The sides were slippery, and cut into her hands as well as leaving long, bloody scratches down her arms and grazes on her legs through her now ripped jeans.
Ward pulled as hard as he could, he could not, he would never, let Skye die too, he couldn't let that happen. He used all the strength he could possibly muster and eventually, after what seemed like forever, he saw a hand wreathed in shadow appear over the top of the side. He yanked on the rope harder and she managed to hang precariously over the edge.
"Come on!" Ward urged, fear obscuring everything else, the pain, the exhaustion, the confusion.
She shook her head. "I don't think…" Ward caught her a second before she fell back over the edge wrapping his good arm around her tightly, and moving her gently away from the danger, laying her carefully down on the floor.
Skye wasn't breathing and he was sure his heart stopped beating as he stared down at her lifeless form. Her body had clearly suffered from cold shock and concussion and her lungs were giving up after swallowing so much water.
"No, Skye, no!" Ward cried out, placing his hands over her heart. He'd never actually had to perform CPR before, one of the benefits to being a specialist was that you worked alone and only had to care about yourself, but he'd been trained to be able to do it, so he hoped it would be enough.
She turned her head to the side and began coughing up water. Ward breathed a sigh of relief.
"Skye, Skye," he hissed, shaking her gently, she remained unresponsive, but he could still hear her laboured breathing.
The thrumming of an engine could be heard in the distance, slowly starting to get louder, but it didn't matter to Ward much, his attention on Skye was too great. But then the vehicle started coming down the road, its lights flashing through the trees.
Ward tensed as the car stopped outside the gate and five figures got out. He wasn't sure if he could move Skye, or even how far he could move her before the people, most likely Maynard's drug gang, could find them.
"Ward!" A Scotsman yelled, and Ward tried to drag Skye back to the relative safety of behind the well.
Wait, that sounded like Fitz.
"Fitz!" Ward shouted. "Quickly, Skye's been injured, she stopped breathing, I had to do CPR, but she's freezing and had inhaled a lot of water and I'm not sure if she's going to be alright, please, help her!"
"I have a med kit!" Simmons yelled. "Ward, I'm going to need you to move out the way. Fitz, Coulson, May, bring torches, and Trip, carry the stretcher,"
She was by his side in a matter of moments and immediately taking care of the situation, the scene illuminated by the bright lights of the SHIELD issue torches.
"What happened here?" Fitz asked, taking in both Maynard and Skye's unconscious bodies.
"He was here," Ward explained venomously. "He pushed her into the well because she was trespassing and because I tried to stop him!"
"May, tie him up and lock him in the trunk," Coulson ordered, pointing at Maynard and attempting to take control of the situation.
She nodded and used the rope to create an intricate binding around the man, one that he wouldn't escape from unless he was Houdini.
"How did you know to come here?" Ward questioned in bewilderment.
"Skye had her com in her pocket," Fitz explained. "It was off, but it still set off a warning when it was submerged in water,"
Ward had never been more glad of one of Fitz's inventions in his life.
"I've called the hospital, what now?" May demanded.
"When they arrive, tell them the assailant got away. I want to bring him in for questioning?"
"So basically like Quinn?" Fitz asked.
"Exactly like Quinn," Coulson confirmed.
The ambulance arrived a minute later and the medics immediately surrounded Skye.
"Fitz, Triplett and May, go back to the bus," Coulson delegated. "The rest of us will go to the hospital,"
The trip to the hospital was long and agonising. Skye seemed stable, but even though Fitz hadn't received any permanent damage, Ward had not known this when he'd escaped from SHIELD, only that Fitz was in a critical condition after nearly drowning, so he'd antagonised himself by what happens when the brain is deprived of oxygen before Hydra had captured him for information. So now he knew a lot about the effects of a near drowning experience. And in no way was it remotely comforting.
When they reached the hospital, Skye was carted away on a hospital bed, leaving Ward staring after her, feeling that everything was all his fault. Once again, he'd been unable to protect someone that he cared about.
"Statistically, she should be okay," Simmons said, to herself as much as anyone. "Of course the…"
"Simmons, shut up," Coulson said as politely as possible and the three of them lapsed into silence, the scene of only a few weeks earlier in the same reception area implanted in their brain.
"Ward, what happened to your arm?" Simmons asked, noticing for the first time the odd angle at which his arm hung and the dark bruising visible on his wrist before his arm disappeared into his leather jacket.
"Maynard broke it," he replied. "It will be fine, he's broken my arm a lot before, I set it correctly on the ride to the hospital,"
Simmons and Coulson practically marched Ward over to the desk.
"Where's the ER?" Simmons demanded. "He needs and x-ray as soon as possible, please,"
Ward rolled his eyes at Simmons's reaction, they really should have been worrying about Skye, but didn't complain. It wasn't as if he could talk either of them out of it, and if he was truly honest, he liked the fact that these people cared about him, even though he wasn't sure he deserved it.
A.O.S
May, Triplett and Simmons sat side by side on the holotable, looking at the feed from the interrogation room that was currently appearing on the screen. They were only half watching really, most of their thought process was spent cursing Maynard, wondering if Skye was okay and snacking on Fitz's big bowl of popcorn, because even field agents need comfort food once in a while.
"He's woken up," May observed, anger flashing beneath her eyes.
"Good," Fitz said, sliding off the table with conviction and making his way towards the sliding doors.
"Where are you going?" Trip questioned.
"To question him. Ruthlessly," the scientist replied.
"Let me," May frowned, following Fitz to the base of the stairs.
"No, I want to do this," he told her and made his way towards Grant Ward's brother.
He couldn't let the man get away with what he had done.
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