Quicker update because I know that was a bad cliffhanger. And this chapter is a lot longer than usual, but I couldn't figure out where an appropriate place to split it besides where I did would be, so here you are :)

Ward

Isabelle's POV

He took a step forward from behind her, forcing her forward. Isabelle all too willingly went with him, anything to get closer to Bobbi. She had promised that this was a safe place. What was Scott doing? Was he really a friend of Skye's? Was he going to harm her? Why had his voice suddenly become so scary?

All Isabelle knew was that the object he had pressed to her head hurt, and that she wanted to scream.

A moment later Isabelle realized that all her limbs were still working, and she began struggling in earnest, kicking his legs with her feet and trying to single free with her arms. "Isabelle, don't," Bobbi said in a strange voice. She was staring at her and Scott with wide eyes. Isabelle obediently stopped struggling and promptly began trembling instead. She couldn't help that.

"Bobbi Morse, I don't think we've been introduced," Scott said. "I would shake your hand, but..." He looked down at Isabelle and she tried to shrink away from him but he was gripping her too tightly. Scott cupped her chin and forced her head upwards, examining her. "She's yours, isn't she?" Isabelle gave a small whine against his hand and he left her head go back to its normal position, hand still clamped firmly over her mouth. He returned his attention to Bobbi. "Don't even bother trying to deny it; I can tell. The golden hair, the look in your eyes...only shared blood could make the Mockingbird freeze up this badly." Isabelle had no idea what he was talking about, only that her trembling had nearly turned into quaking with fear. However nice Scott had seemed in the beginning, there was nothing nice about him now.

"Let her go, Ward," Bobbi said. "And maybe I'll snap your neck quickly instead of prolonging the pain."

"Really?" he asked. "In front of Isabelle?" Scott pressed the hard thing harder against her skull. "Hands where I can see them, Morse. We wouldn't want any surprises, for her sake."

"What do you want?" Bobbi asked angrily.

"Skye, of course," Scott answered calmly. "This has always been about her. I promised to take her to meet her father, and I intend to keep that promise. Now, go to your room." He nodded toward their door. "Slowly," he added as Bobbi started toward him. Isabelle began to struggle again as Scott backed up, keeping the distance between himself and Bobbi. Once she reached her door, he said, "Cell phone on the ground." Bobbi dropped it. "Open the door." She did, and Scott peered inside. "Go in," he instructed her in that same scary voice.

Isabelle made as much of a screaming noise as she could against his hand, muffled as it was, twisting and kicking to get back to Bobbi. If that door shut, separating them...

"I'm going to let you go," Scott told her, looking down at her again. "But if I take my hand off your mouth, you have to promise not to scream."

Isabelle nodded as vigorously as she could under his iron grip. He slowly removed his hand, and the one pressing the hard thing to her head shifted so that he was still holding her immobile. His free hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a tan brick. He fastened something black onto it and then tossed it into their room after Bobbi.

"Here, I'm going to have you hold this," Scott said to her, handing her a rectangle. "Hold this button here really tight, and I'll let you go."

Bobbi was staring at her fearfully as Isabelle pressed the button, holding it as instructed. "Don't let go of that, Isabelle," she said.

Scott abruptly released her and gave her a small push into the room. She stumbled into Bobbi's arms, still holding the object he had given her tightly.

Scott shut the door behind them.

Bobbi's POV

Her heart was thudding wildly as Ward shut the door. She heard the sizzling of a device melting the locking mechanism, but all she cared about at the current moment was getting the trigger—a dead man's switch, she was sure of it—out of Isabelle's hands. The girl seemed too distraught to cooperate easily, and Bobbi's greatest fear was that she would let it go without realizing it as she clung to her.

"Isabelle," she extricated herself from her daughter's grip, as much as she hated to do so, "this is really important, okay? Keep holding that button down. Can you show me the device?"

Isabelle nodded, holding it out but still keeping her little finger firmly over the button. "Good," Bobbi whispered. "I'm just going to put my thumb over yours and press, okay? That's it. Now, you can let go." Isabelle's finger slipped safely from under hers and Bobbi's kept the trigger safely in the do-not-explode position. She breathed a sigh of relief as she held it, Isabelle wrapping both arms around her and crying into her chest. Bobbi used her free hand to hold the girl close, fear-induced adrenaline still pumping through her veins.

A roar filled her ears and despite her training her eyes shut tight, trying to block it out. Isabelle had almost died because of her, at the sick hands of a murderous, traitorous, psychopath of whom Bobbi had put her in the way. She had put her in the crosshairs, failed in her most basic duty as a mother: protect her daughter.

Then the Mockingbird told her to get a grip. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again, exerting her formidable self-control. Breathe in, breathe out. Look around. Assess the situation. Keep breathing. You've been in worse situations before.

Finally calm enough to do some good, her eyes alighted upon the brick of C4 lying on the floor, a detonator pressed into it and blinking. A piece that size…could level half the base. She didn't even try to get Isabelle to release her as she stood up and made for the dresser, just simply adjusted her so that she was on her hip and her little arms around her neck, the hand of Bobbi's clutching the detonator also holding her close. Ward had looked for a landed phone in here, but he hadn't expected her to have a second cell. According to S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol, she shouldn't. According to protocol, that one should have been returned as soon as her stint undercover in HYDRA was completed.

But she'd kept it, used it as a baby monitor for Isabelle. And that was their saving grace.

"Damn it, Hunter, pick up," Bobbi hissed quietly as the phone gave its third ring. "I don't care if you don't recognize the number, pick up the—"

"Hello?" Hunter's voice interrupted her as the line connected.

"Hunter, it's Bobbi," she said quickly.

"Bob, what are you doing—"

"Ward's on the base," she told him. Hunter swore violently. "Tell the others. He locked us in our room with C4 and a dead man's switch."

"Us?" he asked. "You and Isabelle?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "He's after Skye. Tell the others, and get Mack or Fitz down here."

"I'm coming," Hunter replied quickly.

"Wait, did you just hear anything I just said?" Bobbi asked. "Hunter, we need to defuse…" He was gone; she could feel it.

"I'm scared!" Isabelle choked out, clinging even tighter to her neck as Bobbi dialed Skye. She didn't pick up. Bobbi tried Coulson next, keeping a firm arm around her daughter but knowing she at least had a duty to get the message out before attempting to properly comfort her. She left a message on his, cursing the team for being too engrossed in their search for Ward to let her tell them he was right under their noses, about to do something deadly and disastrous. Or maybe they'd already discovered his break-in…that was the best-case scenario for why they weren't answering their phones.

But S.H.I.E.L.D. agents didn't work on best-case scenarios.

She called May, and finally got through. "May."

"May, it's Bobbi. Ward's on the base."

"He's after Skye?" the older specialist asked, tone dark.

"Yes," she confirmed.

"Are you and Isabelle safe?"

"For now," Bobbi replied. "Mack and Fitz are coming to help, I think. But we're okay for the moment. He was looking for Skye, and he knows she's not in her room."

"I'll take care of it," the Cavalry answered. May hung up.

With a small sigh of relief—or at least a bit of eased tension—Bobbi set the phone down, making sure it would ring loudly if anyone tried to call her. She wrapped both arms around Isabelle and made her way back towards the bed. "It's going to be okay, Isabelle," she promised, sitting down. "He doesn't have you anymore, and May's going to make sure he never will again." Her daughter hiccupped, face still pressed into Bobbi's shoulder. "You remember how scary May was when all the syrup for waffles was gone? Well, Ward's going to be even more scared than you were of her. She's scary, but the good kind of scary. She's on our side, and she cares about you. Okay?"

"Why do you call him that?" Isabelle asked finally, shifting into a sitting position on Bobbi's lap. She was still clinging to her, but at least her face was visible now.

"Ward? That's his name," Bobbi replied.

"He's Scott," the girl told her.

She was confused for a second before it made sense. "Isabelle, I'm not quite sure how to explain this to you," she said honestly. "So I'm going to have to treat you like a big girl, okay? You can ask me any question you like that makes you feel safer, but the answer I'll give you will have to be a big girl answer. Do you understand?" Isabelle nodded. "I call him Ward because that's his real name. He was trying to trick you into not being scared by telling you a fake one. His name is Grant Ward, and he's a very bad man."

"Why did he call you Mo…Mock…?" the girl tried.

Bobbi gave her a small smile of reassurance. "Some people call me that for my job. But it's not my real name."

"What does he want with Skye?" Isabelle asked with a frown. "Is he going to try to hurt her? Skye's my friend. I don't want Skye to get hurt."

"He might try, but May will stop him," Bobbi promised. "She's very good at her job."

"What's that?" Isabelle questioned, looking up at her.

Bobbi paused before coming up with an answer that was both true and simple enough for her daughter to understand. "Protecting people."

All of a sudden there was a loud crashing sound at their door. "Bob, stand back!" Hunter's voice called through it. "I'm going to—" He was cut off by a thunderous boom, and Isabelle immediately hid her face in Bobbi's shirt again. She reacted instantly, putting her hand up against the back of Isabelle's head and neck to keep her secure and then launching herself into a side-roll off the other side of the bed, her daughter's body only underneath hers for a split second with the speed of the roll. On the other side, they landed on the floor with a whump neither of them could hear but Bobbi could certainly feel, the hard ground rushing up to meet her spine once and then twice as Isabelle's body landed on top of hers. The girl gave a small shriek of fright but Bobbi recovered quickly, pushing her off and onto the ground, keeping only one hand on the top of her head to keep her down in case of a firefight. With the other she swiftly reached under the bed, only the remembering that she didn't keep a gun down there anymore with the introduction of a four-year-old into her life.

Luckily, she didn't need one.

The the dust and broken down door that had been the entrance to her room stood Hunter, chest heaving and holding a large metal battering ram. He promptly dropped it and ran inside, calling for them. "Bob? Isabelle? Bobbi?!"

"We're here," she said loudly, putting an end to his misery.

He followed the direction of her voice and spotted them immediately. "Bob! Isabelle! I'm so glad you're all right," he breathed. "I was worried the door would…but I just couldn't wait…"

Sensing what he needed from the pained look in his eyes, Bobbi picked up Isabelle—who was latched onto her leg, the only part of battle-ready Bobbi she could still reach—and handed her to him. With the commotion she'd started crying again, and now her tears were creating a similar wet mark on his shirt to the one on hers.

"Hey, Isabelle, it's all right," he said, stroking her back. "It's just me; I was just really desperate to get to you and know you're safe." She whimpered into his shoulder, but seemed relatively unhurt.

Bobbi stared down at her hands uncomprehendingly. "Hunter!" she shouted in alarm.

He nearly jumped. "What?"

"The dead man's switch. I must've…it must've got knocked out of my hand during the…" Bobbi looked around frantically.

"Bob, if you let go…shouldn't we be dead by now?" he questioned.

The words took a moment to register, and then another to process. "You're right. But…"

"The bastard didn't want to blow this place up after all, I guess," Hunter said. He leaned down, still holding Isabelle, to pick up the dead man's switch off the floor.

"He didn't want to blow himself up," Bobbi corrected, the pieces falling into place. "He handed it to a four-year-old; he couldn't be sure she wouldn't release the trigger accidentally while he was standing right next to her. It was a ruse. He'd never bet his life on the grip of a kid. Or Skye's."

"Bastard," Hunter repeated. "What about the C4? Is that even real?" Exchanging looks, Bobbi crossed over the other side of the room where the brick lay. She squatted down, examining without touching.

"I think so," she said grimly. "Which means Ward must have the real detonator. He could blow it at any time." She stood up again. "Did you manage to get into contact with Mack?"

"Called him, left a message," Hunter replied. "But I just saw him a few minutes ago before I got your call."

"I'm here," Mack grunted from behind them. Bobbi spun around to see her friend leaning against the doorframe, the side of his face bloodied. "Where's the explosive?"

"Here," Bobbi gestured, moving out of the way. "Mack, what happened to you?"

"Ward got to me first." The large man bent down and examined it much like she had. "Turbo will be here any second; he just wanted to let Simmons know first."

"Has anyone seen Skye?" Bobbi asked desperately.

"Skye?" Isabelle asked, lifting her head from Hunter's shoulder. "Is Skye okay?"

"We'll find her, Isabelle," Hunter promised, immediately giving her his full attention again.

"I want Skye!" she demanded, a fresh surge of tears flooding its way down her face. As Bobbi looked at her something within her broke, and Agent Morse receded to let a motherly Bobbi shine through again. She crossed the room quickly, holding out her arms. Hunter understood immediately and handed her over, and Bobbi stroked the girl's hair as she waited for her to become calm enough to listen to what she had to say.

"Remember what I told you, Isabelle?" she asked, holding her close. "May's going to protect her. Skye's going to be just fine."

"Promise?" Isabelle whimpered.

"Promise," Bobbi replied. If the unspeakable came to pass, she would have much worse things to deal with than a broken promise to her daughter.

Fitz came running in, followed closely by Triplett. "Where's the bomb?" Hunter, Mack, and Bobbi all pointed to it. The engineer took his turn to kneel down by the C4 and peer at it. "It's a good thing you didn't try to take the det—detonator out," Fitz told them. "It would have gone boom."

"I was worried it might," Mack replied. "This is more your area of expertise than mine. Do you have somewhere on the base that could contain the blast?"

The scientist shook his head, pulling something out of his bag. "Once we get it back to the lab we can cut some of it away if we're careful." He looked at Mack. "My hands aren't steady enough."

"I got you, Turbo," Mack nodded. He bent down and gently picked the C4 off the floor.

"Even after you cut it down to the smallest possible size without triggering a detonation—" Hunter began.

"We'll still need to get it off the base," Fitz agreed. "It'll still have a blast radius of about four meters if Ward activates it."

"There's an abandoned warehouse owned by S.H.I.E.L.D. about twenty miles from here," Bobbi put in. "It's empty." A small silence filled the room as they all looked at each other.

"I'll do it," Trip offered, stepping forward to join Fitz and Mack.

"Are you sure, mate?" Hunter asked. "It could blow at any time, and that's more than a half hour drive."

"No sweat," he replied, although Bobbi could detect the bit of doubt in his voice. He paused, then smiled at Isabelle. "It's just like Bobbi said—everything's going to be just fine, kiddo." He patted her on the head and then left the room.

"Let's go," Fitz nodded. He and Triplett left the room.

They were silent for a moment. "Here, take her," Bobbi said, giving Isabelle a quick kiss on the top of the head and handing her over to Hunter.

"Wait, Bob, what are you doing?" he asked, holding their daughter against him.

"Going after Ward," she said flatly.

"You can't just…what about Isabelle? She's scared." Isabelle stared at her with wide blue eyes.

"She'll be safe with you," Bobbi replied, opening her bottom drawer and upsetting the false bottom, pulling out her staves and a loaded gun from underneath. "I can't be Mockingbird and a mother at the same time. And right now, the Mockingbird is needed more."

Hunter slowly nodded his reluctant acquiescence and Bobbi started on the warpath. Ward had intentionally threatened the life of her daughter…it was time to make sure he never did again.

Thoughts? I'm curious what your guys' opinions are on whether Bobbi did the right thing in leaving Isabelle with Hunter to go after Ward. My beta and I are in disagreement ;)