So...just so you are all aware, this chapter is a short, absolute clusterfuck (pardon my language). There are spoilers for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. If you haven't seen it and want to, I recommend doing it before reading this chapter. Remember that this all takes place pre-Captain America: TWS. This chapter is also based on a lot of fan speculation about what will happen in the upcoming Agents of Shield episode "Turn, Turn, Turn." Since I've basically made lots of leaps and guesses about what's going to happen, the story will be non-canon to the rest of the series. "It Was Blue" by Angus Stone is the inspiration for this one. Enjoy, guys.

Chapter 14

"Get me a secure line," Rickard ordered over the phone as he stepped into the elevator of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Triskelion headquarters. Alone. Finally. He'd been swarmed by agents, generals, officials for the last several hours. The noise, the commotion, the general disarray involved in hunting Agent Coulson had only set the hunger rumbling. It had caught him off guard.

In the beginning he'd battled it; the silent predator. It was the one that slipped in unnoticed in the chaos and set its yellow eyes on him. It craved violence, it begged for blood. He'd seen it in the war. It was unrelenting, a bottomless pit. Never satisfied, the empty stomach always growling.

Battling against it seemed the right thing to do; the honorable thing. But after a while, it got boring, not just exhausting but boring. Why run from the thing that his superiors had tried to mold him into? It was their goal. They wanted soldiers, they wanted him to crave carnage and hate it at the same time. So, he'd given in.

Oh, the sweet relief he'd felt, like a seasoned bottle of chardonnay that warmed his stomach; its alcohol pulsing through each beat of his heart. It lived there now. It thrived. And it hadn't taken him long to discover that that was where it belonged.

He gave the SHIELD operator the name he wanted to call and waited impatiently as the line rang. And rang.

"This is Pierce," a man said, his voice rough around the edges.

"We have a situation," Rickard said, keeping his tone low. "I'm on my way up to your office."

Pierce scoffed. "You do realize that I'm not there."

"Of course. You're still in Greenwich."

"Someone's got to be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s representative during this endless clean-up," Pierce grumbled. "Shouldn't be me. But all of Fury's lackeys are on assignment elsewhere."

The elevator dinged and Rickard stepped off onto a soft carpet. "Stark is now involved."

There was silence on the other end. Pierce cleared his throat. "I thought we had that under control."

"Agent Coulson's team contacted Stark before I even set foot on the Bus. I have reason to believe he's with Coulson. The agent's mysterious disappearance from the car crash site is enough evidence for me."

"Do you have eyes on them yet?"

"Will soon enough," Rickard said, stopping in front of the retinal scanner. The laser screened his eye and the doors to Pierce's office clicked and slid open. He breezed in, heading straight for the Councilman's desk. "Stark's got one of the most recognizable faces in the world. And he's not the type to stay cloistered undercover for too long. He'll have to come out sooner or later."

"There's a lot of uncertainty in that phrase, Manuel," Pierce said, his tone darkening. "We can't afford to let either of them slip through our fingers, not when we're so close to launching Project Insight."

Rickard slumped into Pierce's chair. "I know that."

"We cannot risk Coulson remembering too much about his stay in the hospital. We can't risk Fury finding out what he saw. He can't get his hands on him before us."

"Believe it or not, Alexander, I am presently aware of the threats involved," Rickard sarcastically said.

"Then, let me put it to you in a different light. It was your idea to put in that countermeasure on Raina's table. It was your idea to let him get away so that the memories would start returning. And I allowed this only because you said you could keep him under your thumb, which you clearly haven't done." Pierce sighed. "The point of allowing him to remember was to get him to kill himself, to get S.H.I.E.L.D. to save his life again."

Rickard took a deep breath, trying to keep the anger from rising in his throat. "My "countermeasure" should have put Coulson in a body bag by now. The only reason it didn't is because your man screwed it up and saved his damn life. This situation is just as much your fault, Alexander."

"If he hadn't, his cover would have been blown," Pierce growled. "Agent Fitz is our eyes and ears with Coulson and Fury. If we'd lost that edge, we'd have had to go back to square one."

Rickard stared out at the night time city, his eyes locking on the spark of orange on the horizon. Morning would come soon. And with it, the chances for catching Coulson and Stark grew more and more promising.

"In any case," Rickard growled, "a part of Coulson's team is still searching for answers behind his death. Even if we're forced to take out Coulson and Stark without S.H.I.E.L.D. bringing him back, we'll get the information that we need for the Clairvoyant from them. I call that a win-win situation."

"You do not touch, Stark," Pierce commanded. "If the press gets wind of S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives having anything to do with his death, Project Insight will be nothing more than a waste of our time and tax dollars. And you and I will be looking out at the world from a very small, very grey room the rest of our lives." Pierce paused before he said. "You know what that feels like."

Rickard glowered, a flipbook of images flying through his head. Being a P.O.W. had been the climax of horror for him. What he'd seen and heard there had branded things into his brain that would never go away. It had spurned the rage, that thing into action. The fight for survival had swallowed him whole. It had made him very, very angry.

"I've got to go. Update me when you get a location on them," Pierce ordered. "Hail Hydra."

Rickard focused on the blooming sunlight, becoming brighter as the sky turned an ominous and hot red. "Hail Hydra."

Figured we needed to get inside the heads of our antagonists, if only to know what's propelling their search for Coulson. Stay tuned for Chapter 15, coming later today, where you guys will finally get a little May/Coulson!