Okay, honestly, I WAS going to write an explanation behind why Skye and Simmons were talking to Kara/Agent 33, but the more I tried to write it out, the worse it sounded. So I decided to let the reader come to their own conclusion about how they arrived at this conversation. The how doesn't matter so much as the why. Read and review!

"We're hollow like the bottles that we drain[]
We might be hollow, but we're brave"

- 400 Lux, Lorde

"He tortured and brainwashed Bakshi into be willing to die for him in a matter of weeks," Jemma protested. "How did he learn how to do that? What kind of…of monster can do that to someone?"

Kara's dark gaze flicked between Skye and Gemma, her forehead creasing as she frowned. "How do you think he learned it?"

Skye scoffed, making a slight huffing noise. She couldn't blame Kara for being so reluctant to believe the truth about Ward. She knew what he could be like when he turned on the charm, and he hadn't been actively trying to brainwash her. "Because he's a HYDRA agent. That's what they teach you. They teach you how to torture and mess with people's heads."

Kara's face fell, looking horrified.

"Look, we know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth. Ward wasn't trying to help you, he was just using you," Jemma said, putting a placating hand on Kara's arm.

The former special agent yanked her arm away from the gentle touch. "You don't understand. None of you understand. I want to talk to Grant." She glared up at the security camera in the corner of the medical bay. "Let me talk to Grant."

Skye and Jemma glanced between each other. Skye subtly nodded towards Kara, and Jemma shrugged.

"Ward didn't come back from the mission," Skye explained again. "He left you behind."

Kara's eyes widened, her gaze flicking to Jemma who confirmed it with a quick nod. "You lie," she whispered. She turned angrily on Jemma, her eyes welling with unshed tears. "You tried to kill him. You tried to kill him when all he's done is help me, and Bakshi got in the way. That's why he didn't come back."

"He wasn't helping you out of the goodness of his heart," Skye said, crossing her arms.

"He helped me when SHIELD abandoned me like some broken toy," Kara yelled. She pulled angrily against her restraints. "You left me to die after Whitehall destroyed me! You didn't even try to help me!" She wrenched at the bindings, hard enough she was going to have bruises. "Where were you when I needed you? I gave my soul for SHIELD, and you left me like it was all my choice!"

"Whoa, easy there," Skye soothed, holding one hand out. She wasn't entirely sure what she should do, and glanced back over her shoulder at the door. Where was Coulson and May when they needed them? Weren't they supposed to be watching?

"Shut up!" Kara shrieked, her beautiful face twisted in rage as tears coursed down her cheeks. "Coulson tore the world apart looking for you! You have no idea what it's like to be abandoned by the people you gave your life to!" She wrenched at the restraints, and something creaked as it started to give way. "We didn't choose this! We didn't have a choice! We were torn apart and unmade and destroyed and you acted like it was our fault! You thought we were weak! You thought we were unworthy of being saved!"

"Coulson!" Jemma shouted, sticking her head out the door. "May! We need you!"

As quickly as the rage came, Kara slumped against the raised pillow of the hospital bed, as if she was a puppet whose strings were cut. She continued to cry, but her tears were silent as she turned her head into the pillow. Her shoulders shook from sobbing, and Skye and Jemma stared at one another, completely at a loss as to what to do.

"All he wanted to do was help me," Kara whispered, sniffing quietly. "He said I didn't deserve what happened. That I didn't deserve to turn out like him."

That caught their attention.

Ward didn't exactly express regret last time they spoke. In fact, he'd seem disturbingly okay with his current role in the vast and complicated web of HYDRA versus SHIELD. He didn't even apologize for trying to kill Fitz and Simmons.

The door to the room slid open, and Coulson appeared. He didn't say anything to them, just jerked his head in the other direction, indicating for them to follow him.

As they trailed after him, Skye cast a worried glance over her shoulder at Agent 33. She was as curled up as she could manage, continuing to cry softly into the pillow, and Skye could only feel pity for the once strong agent. Ward had done a real number on her, and she still thought of him as her protector.

"What were two even doing in there?" Coulson demanded as soon as they closed the office door behind them. "I told you not to discuss Ward with her, and you did the exact opposite. Care to explain why you expressly ignored a direct order?"

Skye was taken aback by the ferocity of his question, and immediately went on the defensive. "She kept asking about Ward. What were we supposed to do, lie to her? Keep lying to her like he did?"

"You weren't even supposed to be in there, and I gave that order for a reason," Coulson said. "Neither one of you can be objective about Ward right now, and I don't blame you. It's also why I told May to stay away from Kara, but at least she listened to me. Skye, you can do with taking a page from your SO."

"But he –" Jemma protested, and was immediately cut off with a wave of Coulson's hand.

"I don't care what he did to you, either of you, right now. I understand the betrayal, really, I do. I picked him for the team and entrusted him with your training and protection. But right now, it doesn't matter what he's done to you or to me, because you need to understand that it doesn't change what he did for her." Coulson gestured to the plasma screen displaying Agent 33's profile. His expression softened momentarily. "She has every right to be angry with SHIELD right now. We blamed her for the actions of HYDRA when she didn't have any control over herself, and we abandoned her when she needed us. She is still a SHIELD agent, and right now, Ward has done more for her than we have. That is what you need to be ashamed of. Telling her that the one person who helped her is a monster doesn't help her at all, and that's precisely what she needs. Help."

Jemma's cheeks flushed pink, and Skye suddenly found the floor very interesting.

"If I tell you two again to stay away from Agent 33 until she can talk to an actual psychologist that isn't on HYDRA's payroll, will you listen this time? Or do I need to restrict your access badges?" Coulson asked, glancing between the two of them.

"We'll stay away," Jemma promised quietly. "We're sorry for upsetting her. Could you tell her that?"

Coulson sighed. He knew the two meant well, how sharp the blade of betrayal was in your back, but they weren't ready to deal with their own feelings about Ward's status as a reluctant and unpredictable ally, never mind those of a psychological victim of HYDRA. "Just keep away from her, okay? And stop trying to kill Ward for the moment. He might be of more use to us alive, and he's the only one who knows anything about the inner workings of HYDRA that is willing to talk to us."

Jemma hurried from the room, eyes downcast as she returned presumably to her lab. Skye moved to follow, but hesitated at the door.

"Coulson?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"Agent 33…she said we didn't understand. But when she was talking about what Whitehall did to her, she said we. What did she mean?" she asked hesitantly. "Did we miss someone?"

Coulson sighed, dropping into his chair as he scrubbed a hand over his face. "No. And yes. HYDRA did the same to all their agents. No one was exempt if Whitehall and Garrett didn't think they were true believers."

Skye felt a cold knot form in the pit of her stomach. She licked her lips. "You mean…when she asked how we thought Ward learned how to torture people like that…how to brainwash into someone willing to die for him in a matter of weeks…"

Coulson shrugged. "I thought it was obvious. He knows because it was done to him."

This is probably one of my most rushed chapters in a while. But it really, really bothers me about the double standard within SHIELD. Skye's dad brutally murdered dozens, if not more, in his revenge trying to get her, and avenge her mother, and she was willing to understand and possibly forgive him. Monday's episode, Dirty Half Dozen, had May state "We've all had bad things happen to us. We didn't use it as an excuse to become psychopaths." The flaw I find in that is that everyone else were adults when things went wrong. And their definitions all hinge on what side they're on. May has spied on Coulson, she's killed a child (no matter how psychotic she was), and who knows what else in the service of SHIELD. She even turned on Coulson for a bit in favor of Gonzales. SHIELD has turned on Skye, Bobbi and Hunter have had their falling out...but everyone gets a free pass. I'm not saying that Ward is a good guy - in fact, he's my favorite type of character, which is a complete and total free agent who does what he wants and works with his own twisted sense of justice. Especially with Agent 33/Kara.