SUMMARY: May is furious, Coulson is grim, Fitz is brave, Simmons is alone, and Skye is scared. It's the final battle, and not everyone makes it out alive.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter actually tore me up to write. I cranked up the sad music, and started typing, and this was the result. Sorry that it's sadder, but I feel like I'm actually better at sadder stuff than fluffy, fuzzy things. I dunno, just my opinion. Try listening to something sad while reading this, it sets the atmosphere a bit more.
CHAPTER SIX: What They Wanted
All hell has broken loose.
People are running, screaming, shouting. She doesn't run. Agent Melinda May does not run, not ever, not now. She doesn't know where everyone else is. Probably fighting a battle of their own. It doesn't matter, as long as they're safe. And far away. Best not to let them see what was going to become of her.
She knows she's probably not going to make it out of this battle. It's the last stand. The final battle, the endgame. It's not okay. Dying is not okay. May has seen too much death for a single person. People she's cared for. People she herself has slaughtered. Innocent people. Guilty people. Old and young.
She wants to make it out alive. Despite her cold exterior, that doesn't mean she doesn't have things to look forward to. Things she wants for her future. Perhaps it's just natural instinct, but May is not looking forward to dying. Oh, she'll be gone one day. But now now. Not with the end so near. Not with all the responsibility Coulson had trusted her with.
May pulls a knife from her boot slowly. Melinda May doesn't want to die.
But not everyone gets what they wants. She braces herself for the upcoming battle, and smiles bitterly when a shadow appears in the doorway.
"Hello, Ward."
...
Coulson wasn't someone who gave up easily. Hell, this was essentially his second life. He didn't want to die. Just because he had done it before didn't mean it was any less painful, or terrifying.
He sat in his red Corvette, his hand held tightly on his gun. Who will run SHIELD when he is dead? An absurd question. The truth is, there is no SHIELD when he is dead. When he dies, so does everything he works so hard for. His small, loyal team. Well, loyal to an extent.
His team was brave. Is brave. He refuses to acknowledge that they might be dead, because he knows that they're stronger than that, and he didn't think he could ever forgive Ward if he murders one of his team. They're not really just his team anymore, either. They are his friends. His family. People who he would easily entrust his life to in a heartbeat, given the chance. And he realises that when - if, (he refuses to give up easily) - he dies, then his team might possibly be left to clean up his mess.
Coulson feels a glimpse of guilt for dragging his team into inevitable death. Collected, calm May. Sweet, ingenious FitzSimmons. Skye, who had become almost like a daughter to him. Almost. He wasn't quite that old yet. And then he feels stupid. Because he hopes - knows that his team have enjoyed every minute of it, and that they wouldn't give it up for the world.
"Looks like it's just you and me, Lola," he forces a smile for himself, although he can feel his knuckles turning white.
He looks up just in time to catch the movement in his rearview mirror.
...
"Hide!" It's the first thing that he can think of blurting out. It's not brave, or hero-like of him, but he's a coward. Just a scientist, not built to be out in the field. He'd only followed because of Simmons, in reality.
There's gun shots outside, and Fitz suddenly wishes that he was anywhere but the fantastically advanced lab that he and Simmons had been working in. Simmons yells something in return, but everything is too loud to hear her. He stumbles blindly, feeling as if he was underwater, disorientated.
He finds himself in the next room, which was anything but what he had intended. He had meant to join Simmons, but fear and instinct had over-powered him, and know he is sitting cowardly in a safe room while Simmons fights for his life.
It's everything against his instinct when Fitz pushes himself up, surprised to find himself standing rather strongly. There's a noise behind him, and Fitz doesn't dare to turn around. He knows if he turns around, he'll melt and he'll be forced to be a coward again. Fitz doesn't like to be a coward.
"Ward," his voice shakes, but it's surprisingly clear. "Why don't you kill me, Ward?" He waits, squeezes his eyes tight. When nothing comes, he almost loses all of his built up courage. "You can't," he realises, his voice challenging. "You don't want to kill me, do you? Tell me, is Simmons still breathing? Is the team still alive? Tell me, Ward!"
The first blow comes like a thousand punches to the gut.
...
"Hide!"
"Hide where? There's nowhere to hide!" Simmons dives behind a desk, her body trembling in fear. The work she had been performing is scattered all over the floor. An injection needle lies not a feet from her, and she snatches it up with shaking hands. Simmons knows her time has come.
She was a good child. Always followed the rules, did what was expected. Broke the rules when needed. Jemma Simmons was a good person. Had been a good person. She doesn't know.
Simmons isn't scared. At least, she tries to believe she isn't. Because her and Fitz have been through worse. She's not a stranger to the feeling of upcoming doom. The Chitauri virus had taken her fear already, strengthened the promise that no matter what, they'd fix it together.
"Fitz?" Her voice is strained, and high-pitched. She can't breathe when she gets no reply, and there's a faint noise from the next room over, barely heard over the din of firing and yells. Now she's scared. So, so scared. Her mind - her stupid logical mind - is telling her the possibilties. Raking in the percentages. The answer is clear. Simmons is not going to live.
Somehow, Simmons had always known that this was the way she was going to die. Scared, weak and alone. So terribly, terribly alone. There's footsteps behind her, and she spins, swinging her arm with tear-blurred vision and pushing down on the needle.
...
Skye is just waiting for the killing blow. She doesn't know where the rest of the team is, but she prays that they're okay. She doesn't like feeling selfish, but she'd rather not think of them. It's hard to feel sorry for others when someone you thought you loved was pointing a gun at you.
It was stupid. She was stupid, for falling for him in the first place. She'd had dreams of Grant Ward redeeming himself. Again, stupid. He was Hydra, and there was no way around it. He had betrayed the team heavily, and although thankfully the team was still alive, she would never forget Eric Koenig's dead body.
"Ward," she speaks, but her voice is dry and the word is sour in her mouth.
"Skye." His voice isn't particularly malicious, but Skye can only focus on the barrel of the gun that's he's holding.
"Are you going to become like Quinn?" She mocks bitterly, her tone dark. "Shoot me in the stomach, leave me here to bleed to death?"
Ward's face contorts, and she can see the whites of his knuckles as he grips the weapon. "I don't want to hurt you. I wasn't acting when I kissed you."
"Just like you weren't lying when you killed Agent Hand." Ward looks angry for a split second, obviously torn. He opens his mouth, but Skye rushes on quickly, angry tears springing to her eyes. "What's wrong with you, Ward? You're still doing this. Garret. Is. Dead. Dead and never coming back."
His eyes shadow, and she knows she's hit a sore spot. She's playing a dangerous game with a man who has a gun, but she steps forward. "Have you gotten to my team already?" When he doesn't answer, she stares at him. "Where are they, Ward?" He says nothing, but she can see the answer in his eyes. She had known the answer when he stepped into the room. "You're cruel. Didn't you feel anything for them? Nothing for May, who... I don't even want to know what you did. For FitzSimmons, who never did anything wrong? What about Coulson, who took you into the team in the first place?"
"I cared. I cared, Skye. But they were a weakness, and you know it."
Skye laughs, but it's bitter. Dark, dry. "Well then, Agent Ward. Am I a weakness?"
...
Everything comes with a price. A debt. You can escape that debt for a while, but eventually it all catches up to you. There's no escaping.
Simmons was found dead, looking as if she was asleep, with an injection tucked in her hand. Fitz was put into intensive care, bloodied and bruised. He passed away not long after Simmon's funeral.
May will never see out of her left eye. Her right hand won't function normally. Coulson is heavily scarred, and not just on his physical body, either. Skye was left perfectly unharmed, save for various bruises and cuts. Some say she is lucky, but no one can heal a broken soul.
None of it was what they wanted. But people don't always get what they want.