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Simmons practically threw herself over the Holotable while May walked to Coulson, effectively blocking his view while Fitz sidled in front of the Holotable to hide even of the wall and door that bore the curious markings.
"What's going on?" Coulson repeated.
Skye blurted, "It's a surprise," the same time Fitz exclaimed,
"Just some research," Fitz glared at Skye and Skye glared back as Simmons slowly slid the piece of wall off the Holotable and May spoke in low, reassuring tones to Coulson.
"Fitz, help me." Simmons said in a strained voice as she struggled to lift the detached lab door and carry the wall at the same time.
"Wait," Coulson called out, looking around May but Trip rushed up the cargo hold.
"Director Coulson!" He called, a look of urgency written all over his face.
"What's the matter, Agent Triplett?" Coulson turned to look at a slightly breathless Trip.
"Damn, I knew I shouldn't have eaten all those chips," He muttered to himself, passing a hand over his chest before looking back up at Coulson, "They found the mole, sir. The one that shot Agent Delmore." Trip's eyes traveled over the rest of the team curiously but held his questions, focusing back on Coulson.
Skye turned to Fitzsimmons who stood frozen, about to life the lab door, "Does Trip know?" She whispered.
Simmons shook her head mutely.
Fitz let out a breath as Coulson turned to follow Trip out, "That was lucky."
"Let's not have to depend on luck again," May said briskly as she walked back to them. Skye saw Coulson look over his shoulder before breaking into a light job away from the Bus.
"Hide those well. Skye, you'd better come with me." May instructed, "We'll continue this later."
They ran into Ward on their way to Delmore's room. He was being escorted by a nervous looking soldier who looked the same height as Skye. Needless to say, Ward made the scrawny soldier look like a pipsqueak. It didn't help that the soldier looked fresh out of the Academy and was positively trembling at the presence of Ward.
"Oh my god, should you even be out of bed?" Skye asked concerned, giving him a once over. He was out of his hospital gown and in sweats and a plain white tshirt but was unmistakably steady on his feet.
"Oh, yeah. The doctors cleared it, just as long as I don't do anything damaging to my health, like 'attack another human being'." Ward clapped the soldier on his back, and the boy squeaked and jumped involuntarily, "I was just telling Dan here about my Academy days."
"Did they ask you to interrogate the mole?" May asked, turning her amused gaze away from the soldier. Her voice was neutral but Skye sense a note of disbelief.
"In a way,"
Skye continued walking, taking the place next to Ward hoping the poor boy's nerves would ease at the increased proximity from Ward but the soldier only looked at May with wide eyes. Perhaps not as scared as before, but definitely in a different sort of excitement, like he had just met Mickey Mouse at Disneyworld rather than encountering Lord Voldemort.
Skye mumbled to Ward, "I hope he doesn't pee his pants in his excitement."
Ward glanced over his shoulder, and scratched his head, "I thought he was in SciOps at first. I don't remember them making them this small. It's actually kind of cute. He's all twitchy and shit." Ward breathed back, a smile tugging on his lips and Skye gave him a be nice look.
Pushing open the door to Delmore's hospital room, her jaw nearly dropped. In her absence, the entire space had been converted into something of a situation room. Delmore most definitely went too far with this one. All the original furniture had been pushed out, replaced by tables and computers. A large screen was hanging on the wall, showing a map of Eastern Europe, pulsating dots scattered all over. The only thing that gave a clue as to the room's original purpose was a hospital bed in the center, Delmore reclining in a near upright position in it. Men in identical black suits were crammed into the room, all wearing headsets or holding tablets and phones.
"What the hell?" Skye looked behind her to see May's similar reaction to the sight in front of them. No way this was all for the person who shot Delmore.
Triplett squeezed out from behind two especially burly men. Skye had not expected him to be wearing a suit, and her expectations were true. He was clad in his typical black jacket, dark shirt and jeans.
"They're just finishing a situation that came up early this morning. Interrogation will be in this next room, here-," Trip let May, Skye and Ward down the hall as the soldier scurried to report back to his CO. Trip threw open the door to a much less cluttered room. In the center was a large monitor, similar to the one at Providence and the Playground.
"A lie detector." Skye stated, looking around the room for the chair that the subject would sit in but she didn't find one.
"The plan is to sit her in the prison cell and monitor her vitals from there." Coulson explained as he walked into the room.
"You won't need this," Ward said but not disrespectfully.
"Nevertheless, if it makes Delmore feel better about himself then so be it. Now, Ward's going to go in and get the story out of her and whatever else she might be hiding, like an interrogation, only undercover. We already know what she did and most likely why but we need some confirmation and to make sure there isn't anyone else she's working with."
Skye let out a low whistle, "Undercover interrogation? That's pretty hardcore."
"Think you can handle it?" Trip challenged Ward, smirking a little and Ward smirked back.
"Highest marks in espionage since Romanoff, remember?" He bantered, pointing at himself with exaggerated pride. Then a sticky silence fell over the group as they remembered just how capably Grant Ward was at the art of deception.
Skye cleared her throat, "So how exactly will we be monitoring her vitals?"
Coulson picked up the shift in subject quickly, "Fitzsimmons has a device, speak of the devil," He said as the door opened and the biochemist and engineer trotted in, Fitz holding a miniscule device between his thumb and finger.
"Bloody brilliant," He whispered and Skye was unsure whether he was talking to himself or for the benefit of t everyone else.
Ward leaned closer to Fitz, "Back to us, Fitz,"
Fitz's eyes left the device and he seemed to fully register his audience, "Right. So this beauty here, once attached to the subject's skin, will release many other little monitors to attach to various other points of the subject, including her heart, pulse point, you get the idea."
"It's very unnoticeable, really. You can see it if you know to look for it, but on your own body, you can't feel a thing. It will feel more like a little itch while it adjusts to your body's temperature and skin tone-,"
"Then which it will camouflage nicely. Now, it's only a prototype so there's no telling how long it will last, so be quick." Fitz explained and Ward gave him a look at the last part of the engineer's instructions.
"Of course, you'll be brilliant in there so you don't need telling-," Fitz muttered but Coulson cut him off.
"The guards will place this on her as they search her." Fitz handed the device over to Coulson and him and Ward left through the door. After a while, Ward appeared on the screen clothed in a familiar gray jumpsuit stained with dried blood and dirt. On his arms were a few new cuts but they looked a few days old and a bruise bloomed on his cheek.
Trip brought a newly acquired radio to his lips, "Cameras are up and live," He said as the screen slowly split into five different shots, all from different angles.
Skye turned to Fitzsimmons, bewildered, more concerned with how Ward looked rather than how they were looking at him "How…?"
Simmons smiled rather proudly, "A new formula in the testing phase. It works rather well, don't you think? Those cuts probably weren't that deep, but look at how fast it healed already!"
Skye raised her eyebrows, impressed, "And the bruise? Is that real?"
"Of course not. Simmons would never let anyone punch a concussion patient in the face. It's just make up," Fitz said as if it was obvious.
Coulson reentered the room with Delmore who was now in a wheelchair and a few other agents.
Trip talked into his radio, "We're ready."
"There are cameras hidden in one of the bars of the cell," Fitz whispered to Skye, eager not to have his own contributions overlooked "Extra small edition, made with my own bare hands."
A woman entered the room, pushed in by a guard. Ward had arranged himself in a dark corner of the square cell, blending into the shadows.
"Make yourself comfortable while we find you a cell." The guard said gruffly before clanging the door shut.
Skye turned to Fitz, "Won't she see the cameras though?" She asked quietly.
Fitz shook his head, "They're disguised to just look like specks of dirt. They're so small that an average human's naked eye can't detect them, especially since they're place in such dark and high places."
"Madge Hayden." A file was shoved into Skye's hands by the agent standing to her left. She flipped it open and scanned it quickly. The first page consisted of a mugshot and basic information. Madge Hayden was fairly average looking, not necessarily pretty, but her features were striking, bold. She was in her early thirties, level 6. The next page showed her psych profile- she was ambitious, ostentatiously so. She had grown up with her aunt and uncle in D.C., her parents and older sister abandoned her when she was young. Ian Quinn's words about SHIELD's recruiting of people without families and friends came flooding back to Skye but she pushed that thought away. Now was not the time to think about that. Especially with Jemma Simmons standing a couple feet away, who, Skye knew, was very close with her parents. Turning the page, Skye skimmed through Madge's accomplishments in the field. They were impressive but nothing that was particularly attention getting. Her work was consistent which was strange, given that she was reported to be ambitious. Perhaps it was for the sake of her cover…
Skye looked up at the mole and saw that she was pacing back and forth at the front of the cell. Evidently, she had yet to notice Ward sitting quietly in the corner. Until he spoke up, alerting her of his presence.
"So you're the one they were dying to catch," Ward drawled from the shadows and Madge spun around to face him, seemingly unnerved by the fact that he had been there the whole time. She didn't seem to be that good of an operative now.
"What's it to you?" Madge spat, pausing in her pacing. She looked as though she was waiting for something or someone and somehow, Skye had the feeling that it wasn't the guards.
Ward only leaned forward slightly, allowing some light to hit is face. Madge looked at him for a few seconds, then, recognition seeping into her face, she barked a laugh.
"Clearly, you're not as good as they say you are if you're in here too,"
Ward smiled easily, charmingly, "Maybe's it's my intention to be here." He gestured to the bench next to Madge, "Please, don't stand on my account. Get comfortable, you'll be in here a while."
She watched Madge narrow her eyes but she took a seat. Skye pushed the file in Fitz's direction and he and Simmons bent over it.
"He knows what he's doing?" Delmore asked Coulson abruptly, doubt heavily lacing his words. Skye stiffened but refused to look over at them, instead, keeping her eyes on the screen as she waited for Coulson's answer.
"Of course," Coulson's voice had a hard edge to it. Skye knew he disliked it when others questioned his and his agents' actions and abilities repeatedly, especially after they had just taken down an entire Hydra compound. Frankly, Delmore was walking the line, questioning the Director of SHIELD's judgment.
"So it's true, then? You actually infiltrated Coulson's team and they didn't suspect a thing?" Skye would tell Madge was trying to appear unimpressed but there was no hiding the sprinkle of awe in her voice. Ward only smiled leisurely as his head lolled against the wall.
"What can I saw? I didn't earn the nickname 'Golden Boy' by sitting around and kissing Alexander Pierce's toes. Besides, they were begging to be deceived. The undead hero from the Battle of New York and his pitiable little team, trying to be more than what they really were." Ward finished disdainfully.
Simmons gave a little gasp and Fitz whispered bracingly, "He doesn't mean it, it's all just for show."
Again, Skye wasn't sure for whom those words were intended for, but she clung on to them like a lifeline.
"But how did you do it? You don't look like the kind of person they'd recruit for that sort of thing." Madge ran her eyes boldly over Ward. Skye was sorry to have to admit that there was a certain appeal at the way Ward looked in his otherwise unflattering jumpsuit. His build stood out through the typically loose gray fabric and his stubble brought out his sharp facial features, half bathed in shadows making him look as cunning and fatal as ever. How did he do it? Clean shaven, Ward was the picturesque successful CEO or movie star, straight off the cover of fucking GQ magazine but add some bad lighting and some facial hair and he could be an assassin for the secret police. Maybe it was the way he held himself in each situation…?
Skye was so busy pondering Ward's appearances that she nearly missed his next words.
"I'm everyone's type."
Oh god. Oh dear god. The way he said it- cocky and low and so goddamn seductive…that was enough for her to flush and make her suppress a shiver. It was so wrong for this version of Ward to turn her on (then again, any version of Ward was sexy) but there she was, trying to control her desire in a room full of senior agents and Fitzsimmons and Coulson.
Then he had to make matters worse by letting his gaze sweep around the cell, lingering for a moment on a camera, as if he knew what Skye was feeling, as if he knew what kinds of things his words were doing to her. And he was totally fucking enjoying it. She was going to kill that slick little bastard the second he got out. They were working and yet he managed to find a way to get the job done as well as make her feel a pool of warmth between her legs.
Gripping her arm, Skye bit back a groan and forced herself to concentrate as Madge asked again why Ward was locked up.
"Let's just say you're job's done but mine's just beginning."
The woman leaned forward, her eyes hungry, "What are you going to do?"
Ward chuckled but there was no amusement there, "Don't worry about it."
"Don't worry-? I have done everything I was asked to do! I've been in this hellhole biding my time until they were ready to take over this base, until I had the opportunity, the means-,"
Ward laughed mirthlessly again, clapping his hands slowly, sarcastically, "Good job, give yourself a pat on the back. You shot Delmore and you made your escape. Except, wait, you didn't kill him, SHIELD took over the French base instead of Hydra taking Belgium and you exposed yourself to everyone, including both the French and Belgium governments. It's no wonder you ended back up here in cuffs."
Madge opened her mouth to protest but Ward held up a hand. Seconds later, Skye saw the shadows of two guards as they passed by the cell.
A minute later, Ward spoke again, "I supposed you expected someone to finish the job for you? To break you out?"
"Is that not what Boone and Sherwood were placed here to do?"
Bingo. Skye looked triumphantly to Delmore. Who was it that doubted Ward's ability to reveal everything? An agent had already pulled out a phone and was dialing into it, holding it up to his ear and relaying orders into it.
"You fool." Ward said quietly, sneering, "Their orders were not to assist you. There were placed here to keep an eye on you, to make sure you carried out your task. If you failed, they weren't going to help you. If you failed, which you did, that's on you."
Skye turned to the rest of the room, interpreting Ward's message to them. She told the rest of the room quickly, "They'll be coming for her and Delmore now."
Coulson nodded, agreeing, "Hydra takes care of their own." The agent rattled off new orders into his phone and Coulson turned back to Skye. She knew from the look of his face that he was thinking what she was.
Hydra takes care of their own but SHIELD never did.
"It will now," Coulson said, for her ears only and she nodded, turning back to the screen to see Madge breaking down, betrayal closing down her features for a few seconds. Then she began to scream at Ward, who kept his flippant expression. Before Madge could reach Ward, guards came bearing down on their cell, one pushing Madge against the bars as the other gripped Ward's arm, leading him out of the cell. Despite everything, Skye's feelings went out to the woman as Madge struggled to throw herself at Ward, freeing an arm to claw at him as a guard took him away.
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