Hello everyone!

I'm feeling quite bad not having updated yet, but hey, I had homeworks and I was incredibily lazy, I have to admit.

Anyway, this is the new chapter, I hope you'll all like it. Some hints of particular ships, your job is to tell me which ones.

Enjoy!

It started slowly. The black-dressed men infiltrated the base, Ward guiding them. They sneaked into every corridor, every room. They couldn't access the vaults but they weren't their primary targets. So they kept to the plan. Find the agents. Kill the agents. Take control.

And it was the actual problem. Because there were no agents to find, or kill. No weapons. It was just some deserted base. Ward felt partly relieved. That meant Skye was not in harm's way. He sighed and reunited his men. It was time to go to Coulson's office and maybe find some intel to bring back. He had the feeling that Torunn wouldn't be extremely pleased if they came back without a single thing to report.

The door opened. Ward was surprised. No Captain America action figures on the shelves. There was just that pile of files on the corner of the desk. He sighed and started searching thorugh the papers for interesting stuff. Nothing at all.

"You really thought we were going to leave you top-secret documents, Ward?"

He jumped in surprise, drawing his gun and aiming in the direction of the voice. There was nohting else there than a huge electronic computer-ish panel. And on the panel, there was Simmons. Watching him with a contemptuous and angry expression.

"Simmons..."

"You are gonna listen what I'm going to say. Go back to your sweet little mistresses. And don't come back. You can tell them that."

She was still talking but Ward heard gunshots. He went towards the noise because it was his role. Protecting his men.

It had started slowly. But it was just an impression. After the fake feeling of emptiness of the base, the soldiers had loosen their attention and they had been taken by agents had fallen from the ceiling and appeared from rooms they were sure had already been checked and found empty. They weren't on their guards then, and the battle had started off from that trap. But they had to admit it was well-managed.

The team, other agents were there. They were fighting against Ward's men and they were clearly winning. He could see how Skye was never really touched, how they took care of respecting Torunn's command.

He was partly hidden and could watch what was happening. He would only intervene if one of the men were in danger. He couldn't let Skye see him as a killer again. She had changed so much during the past months. She fought, shot, kicked and punched with precision and fluidity. She turned and her hair moved too. When the brown locks fell down, he saw her eyes. Venomously glaring at him.

He wanted to hug her, to kiss her, to say he was sorry. But he couldn't. He had to fight. They were on the wrong side again. The door burst open, he knew it was the two Asgardians. The door burst open and Skye attacked him.

Torunn stepped into the room. She immediately was tackled by a tall Asian woman. She didn't have the time to draw her sword so she fought the old-fashioned way: kicks and punchs. She quickly found out who her opponent was. May. The skilled fighter. She could find the flaws in her armor and Torunn was protecting her neck, where the woman was aiming.

She could hear her parents yelling at each other in between striking their opponents. They were already a few deaths to count, and Thor was trying, with the help of Coulson, to stop Hella from killing the remaining ones.

She saw her friend hit her father and cracked a little smirk, one second of inattention during which May decided to strike. Her fist stroke the Asgardian square at her jaw. Her head was sent back violently, her lower lip split, drawing some blood.

She immediately reacted, striking back. Her kick sent May flying back. Her hand found her neck. The woman struggled all she could against her grip, but the girl, being a goddess, was too strong. At the moment the victim started to suffocate, the hold loosened a little, allowing oxygen to rush into her lungs.

"Now, now. Agent May… Let's see… If they really know who you are…"

The two icy irises of the girl bore into her and darkened. Her hair straightened, becoming black. She was now a middle-heighted Asian woman, wearing a SHIELD field outfit. A perfect double of Melinda May. Even her voice was the same. She broke into a smirk.

"I got her! Guys!"

She shouted to the others. The real May was trying to escape the Asgardian, punching, scraping with her nails.

"Don't listen to her!"

Coulson looked at the two similar women. One of them was May, but which one? He knew the woman, since a long time.

"Coulson, she's trying to fool you, don't listen to her!"

Air was starting to lack again in her body, but she shouted and clawed and struggled with all her might. They were not going to have her.

"I need help now!"

And Coulson knew. May would never ask for help. May would fight until death, but she would never ever ask for help. She was just so proud, and so selfless too, ready to die for her friends, for her team.

"Sif. Take care of your daughter. I'm not fond of shapeshifters."

The warrior nodded and broke the grasp her daughter had on May. The girl morphed back into her original form. Her face was so angry, almost animalisticly smirking, with all that hatred and rage and violence.

"Oh Mother."

She hissed, drawing her sword, kicking one of the men trying to kill

Ward in one swift and fast motion.

"Stand down, little girl."

"Never!"

And the two swords hit, the metallic sound resounding among the other noises of fight.

Ward already knew this battle was going to be epic. He had never thought, in any of the possible scenarii he had imagined when he couldn't sleep, he would have to face Skye. He hadn't imagined once her hands would be punching him, her body would be so aggressive towards his. He knew she hated him and oh yeah he hated himself so much. But he hadn't pictured her fighting like that. She didn't hesitate, she wasn't the same anymore.

"Ready to admit your failure, Ward?"

She hissed. Tripp was touched by one of Torunn's blows and went flying for a couple of meters.

"Skye..."

"Don't try."

He was about to open his mouth -he couldn't just not try- to reply when he heard Hella screaming at some soldiers to 'Take care of the girl!'. And he saw the couple of pairs of eyes turning to Skye. And one, closer than the others. It was the young man, the one so afraid of death. He had a gun. It was aimed right to Skye's head.

Ward didn't hesitate. He didn't care if she saw him as a killer. The man was threatening her. He had to die.

Grant Ward was not a former Level 7 agent of SHIELD for nothing. He was an expert marksman. His target never saw it coming. One second he was about to pull the trigger, the next he was dead, a bullet right through his temple.

She felt something hitting her from behind, and she was violently pushed forward. Skye was starting to realize what had happened. It was true her heart had stopped when she had seen Ward aiming his gun at her. That was it, he was finally showing his real face. The cold-blooded killer. He was going to shoot her, right there. He had never loved her. It was just an act, everything was just an act. It hurt more than it should have. Even more than when she had learned he was Hydra. She didn't know it was even possible.

But then , he had pulled the trigger and she hadn't died. She had just fallen forward. Right into his arms. And now, she was realizing he was hugging her, and that it felt nice. She couldn't let herself feel that way. He had betrayed her, she couldn't just fall head over heels for him again, the first time she saw him. She pushed him away violently, but it was her feelings she wanted to push away, and she felt like something was missing after all.

"Don't touch me."

She hissed. He looked at her, and when he did that, she saw in his gaze all the regrets, all the things he wanted, needed, to say but couldn't. They were on the wrong side of the battlefield. Again.

Leo knew he was in danger, coming so close to where everyone was fighting. But he didn't care what Jemma was saying anymore. She just couldn't understand. She was so glad, in her little bubble of happiness, with Tripp… So, he was hidden behind a wall, observing the fights. And particularly one. The one between Sif and the girl he had heard was her daughter. It was… kind of beautiful.

Deadly beautiful. The girl was so dangerous, with her shiny sword, her determined look. He heard the blade emitting that whizzling sound when it slashed through the air. He knew it was no training exercise like the ones he had seen May and Skye doing. It was a perilous dance, with those pointy weapons, so acurate when it came to wounding.

She had blood seeping on her chin, the dry remains of the fluid that had fallen from her lip earlier. She was getting sweaty because of the length of the fight, the moves her mother forced her to execute to avoid being harmed. The goddess had already succeeded to cut her arms a couple of times, and Torunn felt a wound just below her ribs.

"Daughter. Now it's time for you to give up."

"Like you gave up on me? I always honor my choices, and that is not something one would call a family trait."

She attacked again. Sif warded the blow off and hit the girl to her thigh. A little groan of pain escaped Torunn's lips. She couldn't let her mother take all credit from her. She ducked at some point, the motion allowing her to take a knife from her boot. Still in that crouched position, she aimed for her opponent's knee. She wanted to wound her badly enough to give herself the possibility of winning this fight.

And then, she saw him. The man, hidden behind a wall, watching her. She was sure he was watching her in particular, not the whole scene. Who was he? She quickly remembered what Ward had told her about his team. He was the scientist, the geeky one. Geeky, but smart and brave. Was it bravery or stupidity from him, standing that close to a battlefield? She wanted to tell him to go away but he had that glow in his eyes, the one telling her he maybe could understand who she was. He was broken. He was just like her.

She had thought too much. The handle of her mother's sword hit the back of her head violently and everything went dark.

He saw it before hearing it. The weapong hitting her head, and the sickening sound that came just after. The girl fell to the ground, her limbs heavier. Leo stood up and walked back to the lab, where Jemma was waiting. He would go after that girl after, when the battle would be over. He was sure there was something else about her. She wasn't a killer. She wasn't the one everyone else saw.

After that episode, the battle soon finished. The last blows and bullets were exchanged and that's when Hella stood up and forced Ward to choose.

She was standing there, looking at him right in the eyes. He should have been shaking in fright but he wasn't afraid anymore. His fear had been not to see Skye again before his death and he had just seen her, and hugged her. He couldn't be afraid of Hella anymore. And the reality hit him. Torunn had never been the bad girl. It had always been Hella and her icy smirk, pulling the strings like a puppetmaster. She had done all that. She had pushed her toy's anger and rage to proportions she maybe didn't even feel.

"Ward. Your time to choose. Go with them. Or stay with me."

He knew he had no choice. Either he chose to go with SHIELD, was brought back into prison and Hella killed them all, or he went with her and saved them. The best option would have been to be with Torunn but that wasn't possible. So, he chose.

"I'm staying with you."

"Fair choice."

He saw Skye's eyes but went away. It was their last chance to flee. He took it. He wasn't afraid anymore. At least not for him. The one he worried about now was Torunn. He left her there, with the team he had once thought was his family. He knew she wasn't going to be received well.

But it would be better for her. He had to honor his choice, so he went with the killer. But he made himself a promise. He would come back. He would not let her down. It wasn't for Skye anymore, it was for Torunn. The friend he had never had.

Thanks for reading!

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Until next time,

The Queen of Heart