"Zola?" Ward scoffed. "I've heard about him. He died way back in the fifties, so excuse me for doubting you."
Zola frowned. "You believe that so certainly, even after all you have seen?" The man held up a gloved hand and began to pull at the fingers, loosening it. "You should know by now that there are many ways to cheat death these days. One can be saved by their anger, be preserved by science, be resurrected by the blood of foreign species..." he pulled the glove off, revealing a skeletal and mechanical hand, flexing the fingers as Ward starred in awe. "Or even live life as a line of code." He twirled the glove around, and it glided through the space where his head should be. Ward jumped back in surprise. He now saw that Zola's face was not a face at all, but rather a hologram. Looking closely he could see small flickers and translucent areas in the face. Zola smiled, placing the glove back on his hand.
"Don't get me wrong, it would seem Death would especially like me to perish. My original body did die when you thought it did, but prior to that my mind was uploaded onto one of the first computer systems at the S.S.R. In that form I survived as Artificial Intelligence and hid myself in several systems. Mr. Rogers believes I was destroyed with the terminal he found me at, but that was merely a setback."
Ward nodded. "So now you've gotten a body of your own?"
"Courtesy of HYDRA. It is true what they say about the heads growing back." He gestured towards his own face. "Though not necessarily in a literal sense, of course."
Ward smirked. "How nice for you. Now what are you doing here? If it's to recruit me into HYDRA, you're a bit out of luck. I only joined because I was following Garrett. Now that he's dead I'm not exactly interested."
Zola paused, then frowned again. "You might want to choose your words carefully, Mr. Ward. I am your only chance at freedom."
"And what if I don't want to be free?" Ward snapped back. "What if this is exactly where I belong? After everything I've done - all the lies, all the murders, all of the betrayal, why shouldn't this be exactly where I stay?" He breathed heavily, ignoring the pains in his throat from talking so much. "Besides, I wouldn't even be free. I would be working for you all over again."
"You would be a soldier," Zola replied sternly. The man - no, not a man, the machine - was completely unfazed by Ward's outburst. "You would be another gear in our machine of change. Do not try and convince me that you would rather die than be out there working for the greater good. We have been watching you." Zola's face flickered again, then changed to a video of Ward. All of the images came from missions he had done for S.H.I.E.L.D. in the past.
"How did you get this?" he asked.
"The advantage of having many heads is many sets of eyes. Slipping past us is...difficult. Especially when we take an interest in you." His face returned. "From a young age you have displayed a tendency to lash out towards those who stand in your way, because you truly believe that the world is unjust. You take justice into your own hands and have spent your life eliminating those who would get in the way of your perfect world order. You are a perfect example of an agent of HYDRA."
Ward was silent for several moments, his mind spinning. Was this guy serious? Did he think he could psycho-analyze Ward from a few surveillance clips? Sure, he'd taken things into his own hands as a child, but that wasn't because he was trying to enact justice on people.
...But his brother was cruel and sadistic, his parents ignored him, and they needed...they needed to be shown that their actions had consequences. The entire epiphany had come to him in the middle of the night at the military academy. Ward spent too long being scared of their abuse to realize that the only way they would learn was if he hurt them back. Hurt them harder. Without saying a word he got dressed and snuck out of the building. He stole the first car that he came across and kept on driving until he found the house. It was probably empty - on a night like this, his family was most likely in some other rich asshole's house chugging wine and inserting recreational drugs into their bodies. The perfect time to hit them back.
He could still remember the smell of gasoline as it poured out of the canister and splashed against the sides of the house. It wouldn't be enough, though. The hide-a-key was in the same place as always, and with a single twist Grant got inside and began to soak the main floor in the liquid. It smelled terrible, but Grant was too excited at the thought of what he was doing. Kick him out of his own home and force him into hell? Fine. He'd do the same to them.
Once the canister was empty, Grant went back outside and found his lighter. As he prepared to light the blaze, he wondered if he was making a mistake. If this wasn't just another cruel action like the ones his parents and his brother had done. Then he saw a light flick on upstairs in his older brother's room. A silhouette moved behind the curtains. Grant thought back to all of the horrible things he had endured because of the monsters that called themselves his family, and knew that he was different. His actions were justified.
Click went the lighter. Boom went the house.
"Think of all the little boys and little girls."
Zola's voice brought Ward back out of his memories. "Imagine all of the children who have been hurt by their families. Their parents. Their brothers. Don't you think you owe them the chance that you received? The chance to escape their hells and become stronger like you have?"
Ward knew that Zola's eyes were just hologram, but they were piercing all the same. He would have you believe that he thought long and hard about his answer, but the truth is that it came almost immediately.
"Alright. Hail HYDRA."
Coulson and Bolewa were just outside the door to the interrogation cell when an explosion rocked the building. The door itself was blown off it's hinges and flew towards the two agents, who only just had enough time to dodge out of the way. In the courthouse, the rest of the team looked around in surprise, fearing that the worst had happened.
"What the hell was that?!" Jennifer whispered. Her clients didn't respond, they simply ran outside to see what had happened.
Coulson had an excellent view of what had happened. He could see Ward running across the parking lot, with a figure in a long black trenchcoat following after him. He stood up and drew his weapon and his communicator. "This is Coulson. Ward has escaped!"
Those words were enough to set May, Triplette, and Skye running towards the holding area. They could barely see anything from the smoke, but they recognized their former comrade's figure as soon as he emerged from the debris cloud. Trip wasted no time in firing at the man, but Ward was just as tactical as he was - as soon as he knew he was being fired at he dove behind a nearby vehicle for cover. The newly minted HYDRA agent turned to look at his rescuer.
"Are we supposed to just sit here or do we have an escape plan?" he shouted over the cries of panic from civilians.
Zola examined the situation. "We have come prepared." He rolled the sleeve of one of his arms up, revealing a control panel built into the mechanical limb. He pressed a few buttons, then turned to Ward. "Time to go, Mr. Ward. B-BST can deal with your former compatriots." The android grabbed Ward's arm and began dragging him away from the scene before he could respond.
Coulson spotted the duo and was about to follow them when a pair of van doors burst off of their vehicle and flew past him. Turning in the direction from which they came, Coulson witnessed a mechanical shape emerge from the van. It looked almost humanoid - two arms with weapons built in, and a module at the top that resembled a head. It's legs, however, were fourfold and spread out in a crab-like stance. The cranial module looked around before spotting Coulson and training its weapons on him.
"YOU ARE S.H.I.E.L.D. YOU ARE ENEMY OF HYDRA. YOU SHALL BE ELIMINATED."
"Man I miss the days when they were just spying on us," Coulson groaned as he turned to run. Behind him, the ground began to erupt as energy blasts launched from the machine's weapons and collided with the asphalt of the lot.
The machine was between Coulson and his other teammates, but with Coulson occupying it's attention the others were able to approach undetected. "Do we have anything with us that can take it down?" Skye asked Maya and Trip.
Trip holstered his I.C.E.r and pulled out a different, larger pistol. "Something Coulson asked me to bring in case a situation like this came up." He pulled the trigger and, instead of a bullet, a blast of concussive energy fired from the muzzle of the weapon.
It collided with the back of the robot's head, causing it to pause. Then it began to transform. A second module emerged from the top of the first head, and a second pair of arms emerged from a compartment in it's back. The new module and weapons directed themselves directly at the three other agents.
"YOU ARE S.H.I.E.L.D. YOU ARE ENEMIES OF HYDRA. YOU SHALL BE ELIMINATED."
"That could have worked out better," Skye muttered.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is shaping up to have a lot of character stuff, I've noticed. I really do enjoy writing that kind of thing and getting into the other character's heads like that.
Anyway, there's another Marvel character in this chapter! Pretty obvious to spot since I did name them (sorta). Still, points to those who know what it is. And keep your reviews coming! They give me live, as per usual :)