Disclaimer: I do not own Skye, Phil Coulson, Melinda May, Grant Ward, or FitzSimmons. I only own the variation I have created off of this very popular idea.
I firstly must thank Neeeeeal who, as the author of Turn Back Time, has done such a very interesting and lovely job on their story I wanted to give my attempt of it a go.
However, because I cannot find B.J. Britt's wiki page or his age, I'm going with Ward. But that's not the only reason. It's because with the Hydra plot, I see no room or logical way for this story to make sense. So... It's AUish. Ward isn't hydra. Yay! Because I really did love Ward.
Warning, MAY include Avengers. I upped the rating for my own comfort.
May ran as fast as she could, shooting a guard before he even had time to point his weapon at her. She ignored the blood pooling in the floor, scanning the dead body quietly for the metal key that would unlock the armored door. Normally, May was patient and much more level headed than this. But all she cared about was the crying children behind the door and she couldn't help but lose some common sense from it. Perhaps if she hadn't bonded with the children, perhaps if she hadn't been so scared for them she would have saw sooner that the metal door was locked on the inside and she was more than capable of opening it from the hallway.
When she did notice this though, she opened the door and fired at the tall imposing figure in front of her. Another crack echoed throughout the room, followed by a cry of pain and three screams.
May was in the room before the body and gun could hit the floor. She stared at the children, eyes scanning every little part of their bodies. Skye, Leo, and Jemma were all huddled close together over Grant, who's shirt had a wet red spot growing. Already his face was getting pale and May ran forward, screaming for Coulson.
"COULSON!" May shouted as she looked at Grant. A terror fell over her, like a wave of ice cold water. She didn't know what to do, well she did, but she was drawing a blank.
Luckily though, Coulson and Clint came running in while Cap guarded the door. Clint reached back into his quiver, pulling out the first aid supplies that he hid in there. Clint frowns, looking up at May and Coulson, who like the former froze up, and cleared his throat.
"May, give me a hand."
May immediately snapped out of it and sprung into action and helped the archer. While they tried to keep Grant from bleeding out Coulson turned the other three. Skye immediately wrapped her arms around Coulson and cried into his chest, and he noticed that Jemma and Leo had just recently been crying.
"Skye," Coulson whispered, "Skye sweetie can you tell me what they did to you?"
Skye's voice came out in gasping hiccups due to her crying, "They-they took a lot of blood from us. They had us strapped down in these-in these evil hard metal chairs and took a lot of blood from us. It-it hurt a lot daddy. And-and then they threw us in here for a while."
"They-they were going to kill us," Leo cried, finishing for Skye, "That man came in here with the gun, saying that we weren't needed anymore and-and he was going to kill us. And-and-"
"Shh," Coulson whispered, "It's ok Leo, it's ok. We're gonna bring you home now ok?"
Leo nodded silently, sniffling as he tried to wipe the tears from his eyes. Jemma did so as well, the children still trembling though. He glanced over at May and Clint, trying to voice the question on his mind.
"How bad is it?" Coulson finally asked, "Will we be able to move him?"
Clint pursed his lips together, "Yeah, yeah," He made sure the gauze and bandaging was secure tightly against the child's chest to keep him from bleeding out. He whistled for Cap to come over and carry him, "But he'll be better on the BUS, with Doctor Banner looking him over."
"Uncle Bruce!" Jemma whispered, eyes wide.
Clint chuckled, "Yeah, but right now Uncle Bruce is Uncle Hulk. Come on you ankle biters."
May and Coulson still had business here before they could return to the BUS. While Cap and Clint took the kids back to the BUS and got them settled, especially Grant, they'd be looking for the bastard responsible and placing some bullets in his head.
It had not been easy convincing Leo, Jemma, and Skye to go with the two Avengers. They screamed and cried and begged, their tears making it incredibly difficult to say no. But they finally managed to convince the kids, despite them crying the entire way, to go with Clint and Cap.
May frowns, turning her head to peak around a corner. In all honesty, her and Coulson were going in blind with no idea where to start looking. Coulson was confident though that they hadn't evacuated WhiteHall yet, mostly on the premise that they'd have to set up expensive medical equipment before they could leave for him. And even the fastest, most professional doctors couldn't do that in seconds.
"Where is he?" May hissed silently, shooting a stray agent that hadn't gone to the chaos Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man were creating. Coulson frowns, following her down the hall.
"He should be down this way," Coulson reasoned, "Makes sense May, he's near medical incase something goes wrong and in the heart of everything so no one can get to him without crossing security."
"So what? We just shoot him in the head? End it?"
"Well... Yeah," Coulson skidded to a stop, staring at an open door. There was a plaque on it with writing, writing too tiny for Coulson to read, with a small group of heavily armed agents around it.
May immediately put a few bullets in their heads, followed by Coulson. The dead bodies were ignored as the two agents stepped into the doorway. Two armed agents pulled their weapons out on them, but May disposed of them with two flicks of the finger.
The room was mostly dark, illuminated by the glow of medical equipment. They saw the outline of a man in bed and a woman with her hands raised in the air, clearly terrified.
"Put your arms down my dear," WhiteHall's voice was still strong for a man of his age, he stared at Coulson and May behind his glasses. There was a power in his voice, that could not be forced to match the weak, frail physique his body succumbed to, "Zey von't hurt you."
"I wouldn't count on that," May warned, pointing her weapon at them.
"Are you so sure about zat?" WhiteHall asked, tilting his head back as he examined May. He turned his gaze to Coulson, seeing the gun pointed at him.
But WhiteHall was not scared, he did not fear death in the slightest. He did not want to die, no he wanted to be young again like everyone else and be able to do more for HYDRA. But he was not scared of this man though, of the death he was about to face. Because he saw it as a way to become a martyr for Hydra, a symbol. He knew what he was getting into when he pledge allegiance to Hydra, and dying for it was rhe only way he wanted to go. He wanted to be young only so he could do more for Hydra. To fight and train and be a leader, not a dying man trapped in a bed.
Coulson held the gun in front of his face, "You send people to kidnap my team, you take them against their will and use them like lab rats. You turned my agents into children, for what?"
"To improve it Agent Coulson, discovery requires experimentation," WhiteHall explained, "It de-aged them by twenty years Agent Coulson, we want to go farther than that. Past forty and fifty years, past seventy if it's possible."
"You had high hopes."
"And big dreams. Twice your organization has interfered. And we both know that S.H.I.E.L.D. will not risk a third encounter."
"You're a smart man WhiteHall, the SSR could have used something like you if you weren't such a sociopath."
"And Hydra could use soldiers just like the ones you have Agent Coulson," WhiteHall smiled, "My dream might not be big enough to pierce that protective shell S.H.I.E.L.D. cradles the world in, but there are others. And those others are going to be the best thing to ever happen to Hydra. Their dreams will pierce the shield you have spread out over the world."
WhiteHall gave a knowing and unnerving grin to the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and Coulson's eyes widened as foam bubbled from his mouth. He watched as the life left WhiteHall's eyes slowly, as the foam and bubbles dripped onto the blanket he was swaddled in.
-.- So. When I was looking up that quote "Discovery Requires Experimentation" I learned that WhiteHall's fake first name is Daniel. Daniel WhiteHall. Not Nathaniel. Has no one else noticed this? Did you guys not know this either? I feel a bit stupid.
So yeah... Somewhat of an unexpected ending. I didn't have the heart for Coulson to shoot him. Or for May. Please review! Please please please please?
Also, I have a story idea but it's not AOS. It's like Avengers with maybe characters from AOS guest staring or featuring in them. It's like one shots inspired by songs I hear on the radio. Like, when I hear Bad Blood from Taylor Swift, I think of something for Clint and Natasha. And when I hear You Belong with Me I think of a Bobbi/Clint/Natasha thing. And when I hear It Should Have Been Us, I honestly think of Steve and Peggy.
Hey, better I think of these guys of Four and Tris from divergent at every break up or slow sad sounding love song!