A/N: Hey guys! Just churned this monster out (no pun intended haha), and it's focused entirely on Ward and Agent 33. It's after 2:30am here, so sorry if I take a while to get back to your reviews!
Thank you to SkyeWard MusicLover, SkyeWardLover, LJ717, bellapaige88, Maddison1803 and Missjsmac for your reviews! They mean so much!
DISCLAIMER: I only own the storyline and the OC (you'll figure out who that is)
Ward came to with a jolt. Immediately taking in his surroundings, he realised he was in a small basement. The size built for the average home. However, the reinforcements to the beams holding the ceiling up suggested that this house was far enough away from any decent community to be of any real comfort.
It wasn't just him in that basement, however. Sitting across from him, likewise securely strapped to her respective chair, was Agent 33. Flicking his eyes around the room, from his position he could count five men. All dressed in tactical gear, and trying to give the assumption that they were unconcerned at being in the same room as a pissed off killer by lounging casually against whatever happened to be by them. They were scattered around the room at equidistant intervals, and by the way that Agent 33's eyes flickered from side to side, Ward gathered that there were three more stationed behind him.
Turning his gaze upon Agent 33, Ward decided to play along with whatever game they had going on. He knew that there would be cameras in the room, so under the pretence of attempting to give reassurances to his companion, he used his peripheral vision to locate four of them. One wasn't very well hidden; Ward assumed that was to throw any potential prisoners off of the others' scent, so to speak.
Of the four that he could see, three of them were angled directly towards him. As Agent 33 was such a high profile target for Whitehall's Hydra faction and a renowned S.H.I.E.L.D. agent before the big reveal, it wouldn't make sense that their captors would focus on keeping him under stricter guard. He was originally 'Hydra' after all.
Needing to know the lay of the land as much as possible, he made direct eye contact with Agent 33 and proceeded to blink in Morse code. Long. Short. Long. Short. Wait for a second. Short. Long. Wait again. Long. Long. This spelt out 'cam', and Ward waited for a few seconds before Agent 33 broke her long stare with a quick blink. Ward then glanced away, as though annoyed, and bounced his leg, as though irritated, four times. He glanced back and saw her blink again.
Ward blinked twice in succession. Your turn. Agent 33 strained against her bonds for a couple of moments before relaxing and tensing her right arm twice. Two behind you. Ward blinked once, confirming that he had received the information, and turned his attention to studying the basement. He imagined that Douchebag was getting quite a show, if he was even the one watching the camera feeds.
The obvious signs of usage as an actual rural basement gave away the possibility that wherever they were, the building above them was a masquerade. Or recently 'acquired'. It was Hydra, after all. They don't disappoint. On the other hand, the one camera Ward permitted the occasional glance at appeared to have been set in place for quite a while. 'Recently acquired' may just not fit the bill.
The headcount of the room, minus himself and Agent 33, was an estimated 8. The multiple weapons strapped to their body armour might come in handy if he could get himself free. But for now, he would have to see where playing the powerless prisoner would get him. What bothered Ward the most was his lack of knowledge about his current captors. They were Hydra, sure. However, he had never met any of the men that they were now dealing with, and without substantial understanding of at least their numbers, he was unsure about the possibility of getting Agent 33 out of here and to Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. division. Wyoming would have to wait.
8 here, all from the dirty dozen on the rocks. They can't have been all of them, though. No squadron has thirteen men, let alone on a man hunt. He almost allowed himself to smile at his next thought. They see me as a dangerous threat. How reassuring. It did give Ward some idea of the level of security of the place. Enough to prevent an escape, or at least thwart an attempt, yet not too much to draw too much attention. It was a potential masquerade.
No more than two dozen men. The thought was oddly comforting. Without getting at least a glimpse of the men both in and around the house, it was difficult to pinpoint their level of martial skill, but Ward was confident that Agent 33 could get out with the right planning.
Before Ward could begin formulating a plan in his mind, the door at the top of the steps opened. Creaky, no less. He thought as all eyes in the room turned to look at the newcomer. Hmm, perhaps not trained enough to be guarding the likes of me.
Slow, deliberate footsteps echoed down the wooden stairs, accompanied by the loud slamming of the door shutting behind whoever it was. Ward quickly ran through all the Hydra leaders that he knew weren't dead, but he wasn't expecting to know who this person was. He was right.
What he also wasn't expecting was for this leader to be a woman.
She strode into the easy line of sight of the pair of them with a swagger that Ward felt belied her true intentions. Cocking her head to the side caused her thick black hair to sweep over her shoulder. Ward held eye contact with cold calculation when she turned her gaze to him, a smug and overtly proud smile centre stage. Her eyes were striking, and no doubt caused many to double-take in awe at their beauty. One was a deep green, sprinkled with gold specks while the other was a bright blue, ringed with grey. What made them even more impressive was how remarkable a contrast they offered with her ebony skin.
"Grant Ward." She finally stated, her voice a surprising mixture of both melodious and commanding. "Glad to finally meet you."
Ward rolled his eyes. "Evidently." He deadpanned.
Amusement creased the skin beside her eyes, a low, throaty chuckle rolling out from between her lips. Ward wasn't sure whether it some attempt to turn him on or not, but if it was, it wasn't working. He was too well trained to fall for that kind of trickery.
The false warmth still hijacking her gaze, she moved to face him more directly, half cutting off his view of Agent 33, whom she'd all but ignored. Still, Ward didn't back down. "Do you know who I am?" she asked, with what appeared to be genuine curiosity.
"No." Ward said bluntly, playing the unimpressed and bored cards for now.
"Hm. It appears John Garrett liked to keep you to himself." She appraised him openly as she almost murmured the words. Ward pulled a slight grimace, which she of course picked up on. "You don't like him either?" she raised an eyebrow at this. Was this really the same man who had been so loyal?
"He was a sadistic, selfish asshole who was afraid to die. Make of that what you will."
"I would agree with you there. Never had much to attack him with though, with him being Hydra."
Ward's face showed an expression of 'well…' "Ish."
"Ish?" she had dropped all pretence of pleasure. Her diction had acquired a sharper edge and her gaze was hard.
"Newsflash. He was planning a coup." He was almost enjoying this. Dragging his interrogator out of their initial mode of play mere minutes into the fun.
The mask had jumped back up into place, intrigue adding a twinkle to her eyes. "Was he now? Interesting."
"Yes, I can see that."
She looked as though she was going to slap him. Perhaps ease back a bit on the sarcasm. God, I sound like I'm talking to Skye. Thankfully, she turned away from him and stalked over to Agent 33, who eyed her warily.
"You worked with Whitehall, Agent 33. Surely you know who I am."
"He may have mentioned you once or twice." Agent 33 replied, her jaw tense, causing her words to sound forced. They probably were. Like Ward, her gaze never waivered.
"And…?" the woman in charge sang. Oddly, she wasn't annoying. Yet.
Agent 33 sighed. "He was ever so impressed with your…particular…talents."
"Mm." her lips pulled into an impressed pout, nodding. Clearly, she thrived on praise. "Well, since you seem to have heard so much about me, why don't you introduce me to your friend?" she pivoted on the spot to face Ward again, but his attention was on Agent 33, who didn't look like she was willing to co-operate.
Play along. He urged her, and she sighed.
"Grant Ward, this is–" she was cut off by a tsking noise.
"Goodness, Agent 33. With more flare! I am more than important."
Agent 33 gritted her teeth so tightly, Ward wondered if she was attempting to grind them down to nubs. "Grant Ward, you are in the presence of Ruta Svitryte, known as The Black Flame, Hydra Officer Level 8, expert pyrotechnic, and Head of all Hydra squadrons. An unregistered Gifted, she was hidden from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s sight to prevent her being locked up and out of service." The hate in her voice was hard to miss, but Ruta seemed to relish it.
"Expert pyro, huh?" Ward questioned. "Is that your gift?"
Ruta smirked, either adding or allowing a menacing tinge to it. She raised her right hand, palm up, and a flickering ball of fire burst into life just above it. Delighted at the hint of fear that flashed in Ward's eyes, she wiggled her fingers. The colour of the flame changed in quick succession through all the colours of the spectrum, the heat emanating from it fluctuating almost as quickly. The disco lights effect stopped as the flame went out.
She moved towards Ward once more, the swagger still in place. "So now you know my name, and my purpose. Are you sure you've never heard of me?"
Ward glanced to his left with narrowed eyes. "Hmm, nope! Doesn't ring a bell."
Ruta released a dramatic sigh. "Oh well. Can't be helped." She clicked her fingers at one of the guards and he strode forward from behind Ward with a tablet, handing it to her and deftly moving back. She focused on the screen she held, but directed her words to Ward. "That was quite a nice show you put up a little while ago. Something to amuse the men. I wonder what you hope to gain from it."
Ward realised he'd underestimated the intelligence of his primary captor. A potentially fatal mistake.
Ruta looked back down at Ward and he resisted the urge to swallow. Something about this woman made him fear her. And he'd never been afraid of anyone like this since before he'd started standing up to Christian. Not even The Cavalry. She smiled again. "Let me make something very, very plain. Whether or not you choose to comply, you will not be leaving this basement as a threat to Hydra."
"Comply." Ward repeated, avoiding drawing attention to the sudden terror that was rife in Agent 33's gaze. "What exactly do you want me to comply to?"
Pure joy suddenly seemed to spill out of her. "I'm offering you a chance to re-join the ranks of Hydra. Not as a foot soldier, oh no, no, no, no, no." she grinned widely, looking somewhat maniac. "As my second-in-command."
Silence beheld the room with bated breaths.
"And why would I want to be a second-in-command…again?" Ward queried, having no intentions of helping this woman.
"Because being my second-in-command will be so much more rewarding." She replied, leaning down to level their faces. "Garrett was selfish. Whereas I," she blinked long and slow. "I am not."
A witty retort was on the tip of Ward's tongue, but he clenched his jaw to resist.
"So that is my one time offer. Take it or leave it." She finished, straightening back up.
"What happens if I leave it?" Ward dared to ask.
"Doom." Ruta whispered, the hushed voice softly echoing throughout the basement. "I'll give you time to decide." With a wave of her hand, the armed men in the room filed out behind her.
Once the door had slammed shut behind them, Ward released the breath he'd been holding and hung his head over the back of the chair.
"'Not selfish'?" These two words were the first Agent 33 had spoken since the introduction. "This is Hydra. Selfish is their standard MO."
Ward couldn't help it; he'd been more scared than he had ever been in almost two decades, and at Agent 33's sassy remark, he started to laugh. Maybe this was his normal after-reaction to a rush of fear, maybe it wasn't. It still took him a few moments to settle.
"Why was that funny?" she demanded. He's probably lost it.
Ward didn't want to give Ruta the satisfaction of knowing she'd gotten to him, so he grinned. "That's along the lines of the retort I bit back when she said that." It wasn't entirely untrue.
"So…your verdict? I did notice she didn't include me in whatever bargain she's wanting to strike."
"Perhaps she's going to offer you a similar one after I've chosen."
Agent 33 smiled, looking so much like May at that moment that Ward had to repress a shudder. "I'm of the opinion that whatever she offers me is dependent on your answer."
Ward groaned. "Part of the psychological battle she's put up. Uhh, dammit she's good." He mumbled. "If I say no, we both suffer."
"Are you going to say yes?" the timid response came a minute later.
"Yes, O great and mighty Grant Ward." Ruta's voice boomed from hidden speakers. "Are you going to say yes?"
Ward spared a look of apology for Agent 33 before raising his voice and saying firmly, "No."
"Then on your own head be it." Came the reply as the basement began filling up with gas.
A/N: What do you think? Ruta's a bit of a mystery!
Reviews please! I'd love to hear from you all! (can we get to 25 reviews?) :3