Awakening Quake
By Misha

Disclaimer in Chapter One.

A.N- Action scenes aren't my strong suit and this is a bit all over the place. I apologize in advance.

Awakening Quake
By Misha

Disclaimer in Chapter One.

Chapter Forty-Three: Firefight

Doom's castle loomed in front of the Avengers. They had arrived in Latveria and been greeted by various officials, who reminded of them that they were on a deadline. At this point they had just over 24 hours to get Skye and get clear of Latverian air-space.

"We're surrounded," Tony, who had flown ahead, said over the com, "there are dozens of soldiers, both human and robot, all blocking the entrance to the castle."

"We expected that." Natasha commented, "We just have to stick to the plan. We know that she's in there and that Ward is too and we can't let anything stop us from our goal."

The team was all in agreement.

Steve had been worried that the addition of Melinda May might change the dynamic, but she and Natasha had worked together in the past, and having gotten her way about being on the mission, May was willing to follow orders.

"We have to assume that Doom's done something to Skye and she has no access to her powers," Clint reminded them, "otherwise, she would have brought this castle to the ground by now."

"She might be afraid of injuring civilians," Steve pointed out, but he had to agree with Clint that it seemed likely Skye had somehow been rendered powerless.

"Skye has other skills," May reminded them, "I think we can still count her as an ally for our side, once we get to her."

"I agree." Natasha spoke up. "She might be unarmed and currently at a disadvantage, but we'll be able to count on her to help us fight our way out of there, it's getting in that might be tricky."

"Then we'll just have to fight our way in," Bucky said with a grin, looking over at Steve.

"Let's do it." Steve agreed. Skye was in there and he was going to get her out. This wasn't any different than going past the German line to get Bucky all those years ago and they'd made it out alive that time. He'd do it again now.

"They're entering the castle grounds now, sir." One of Doom's soldiers informed Ward. He was locked down in the main part of the castle, deciding to wait for Rogers and his companions to bring the fight to him. Hopefully Doom's lackeys would be able to take a few them out, but if not at least they'd be tired while he was well rested, which would give him the advantage.

He had a gun in his hand, just waiting. Though he didn't plan on shooting Steve Rogers immediately. He needed Skye to watch, needed her to know that there was nothing standing in the way of them being together.

Thinking of Skye, Ward glanced up the stairs. He wanted to go to her now, but it was a bad idea. This wasn't the time to let his guard now. Not with the Avengers so close. Doom's men were under orders to take out everyone but Rogers and to capture Rogers. But Ward was filling to acknowledge the possibility the Avengers would allude Doom's army, so he had to be prepared to take them down himself. But he wasn't going to bring Skye into the equation, until he had Rogers subdued.

For now, she was safe in her room, under the watch of several guards, which meant she couldn't do anything foolish, like she had in San Juan.

"No sign of Ward anywhere," May called out as they finally breached the front door of Doom's castle.

They had been attack from the time they'd stepped foot on the property, which they'd expected. But they'd managed to fight their way through an army of robots and men with guns.

"He's an asshole, but he's not stupid," Barton said grudgingly, "why would he join the firefight, when he can wait for us to come to him? This way he's well rested and we've just fought an army."

"I've fought armies before." Rogers commented, as his shield returned to his hand. "What's one more?"

"Are we going to blow anything up this time?" Barnes asked. "Because that's always fun."

May watched Barnes carefully. Coulson had asked her to keep a discreet eye on him, to see if he really was rehabilitated or if he was a potential threat. She had to admit that he seemed fine. He was cracking jokes and covering Rogers' back. This was apparently his first battle with the Avengers, but he fit in easily.

May was very aware that she was the outsider on this mission, though everyone was polite, but that didn't matter. What mattered was Skye. May couldn't sit around and do nothing while Skye was in Ward's hands, it just wasn't in her nature. She had to be part of the fight, but she understood that she wasn't in charge here and she was willing to respect that. To a point.

She still hoped to be the one to put a bullet in Grant Ward's black heart once and for all. Though she had a feeling she might have competition for that honor.

Skye could hear the commotion and knew that the Calvary had arrived.

She'd honestly assumed she would have seen Ward by now, but maybe he wanted to keep her out of sight. It was a little of character for him, his ego seemed to demand grand displays, but maybe even he was cautious about going up against the Avengers.

Still, that meant Skye couldn't catch him off-guard, so she needed to come up with another plan. She listened to the sounds of the battle for a moment and decided to just make her own opportunity.

She grabbed the gun Ana had left for her and opened the door. A guard saw her and Skye shot without hesitating. She felt a teeny bit of remorse as he fell to the ground, but she'd only shot to wound. Another guard came at her and this time she had enough time that she didn't need a gun to take him down.

A moment later, she was headed down the stairs towards the sounds of the fire fight. As soon as she entered the foyer, she could see that there was a fight going on.

Skye could make out six familiar figures. Steve, May, Tony, Nat, Bucky and Clint. She wondered if they were only ones or if the others were somewhere else, but she figured she'd get that answer when the fight was over.

Skye joined the fight quickly. She might not be able to use her powers, but all those hours of training with first Ward, then May and then Natasha were certainly coming in handy now.

She took out a couple of Doom's henchmen and then felt an arm encircle her. She tensed for a second, ready to throw it off when her body recognized the touch. Steve.

She turned in his arms, drinking in the sight of him. "Hey."

"Hey yourself." He told her. "This is quite the welcome, don't you think?"

"You can't say that Doom isn't a gracious hope," she quipped, knowing this wasn't the time for big emotional reunions. But she felt so much better just seeing him. Now she knew that she would be going home. Her family was going to help her make sure of it.

"Let her go!" Skye stiffened at the sound of Ward's voice. He was headed towards them, gun in hand.

"Move away from him Skye," Ward ordered.

"No." Skye said.

"I don't want to hurt you," Ward told her and she could tell he believed it, "I want us to have a life together. That can't happen as long as he's alive, you must see that."

All she could see was that he was insane. Had he always been this crazy or had the events of the last year finally sent him over the edge? She didn't know and she felt a twinge of pity as she looked at him, but she still raised her gun and prepared to shoot. But before she could pull the trigger she heard the sound of a gun popping and watched as the bullet entered Ward's skull. She was transfixed by the gruesome sight and his broken and bloody body.

So much so, that it took a moment to tear her gaze away and identify the shooter...

A.N2- I know a lot of people wanted Skye to kill Ward, but it didn't feel right to me. I needed her to want to do it and to be emotionally ready, but I think actually killing him would be harder than she would think and even though he's a crazy psycho, it would haunt her. Because while he's crazy, she's not; she's human and she has compassion and real emotions. In the next chapter we'll find out exactly who did kill Ward.