Note: One of the first pairings I shipped in 'AoS', FitzWard was a favourite from early on. I was heartbroken by the betrayal, and hoped for redemption. I think that Ward will always have a soft spot for Fitz, no matter how unreciprocated it is.

"Take It Down"

This is what Kara would've wanted.

Grant Ward kept telling himself that. He didn't think of the entire reason. He stuck with the one which still mattered, the relationship that was more likely to happen than…

What did it say about his life choices that, despite no inclinations towards necrophilia, he still had more of a chance with a corpse than with his soulmate? But he'd lost Fitz the moment he sent that room into the ocean.

(It was supposed to float. A thought which tormented him constantly.)

Obviously his affection for the Scottish engineer refused to fade, judging by the stubborn soulmark on his abdomen. The first words Fitz had spoken to him, inscribed in surprisingly precise handwriting. Whenever he felt particularly down, he'd trace the letters and remember the times they had together. Movie and game nights, shopping trips, working out, missions in the field, sleeping under the stars…

He sighed, and rest his head back on his pillow. Being the head of New HYDRA wasn't exactly taking its toll… alright, it was, but he'd made a vow to himself; when Fitz lunged across the plane, when Kara died due to his impulsiveness, when he was drinking in that pub and demanded more names. He'd scooped up every last HYDRA agent he could find, plus new recruits, anyone who hadn't been taken out by the Avengers or New SHIELD. It was just a matter of bringing them all together into the one place. Get them working as a team, come up with a plan to bring SHIELD to its knees, and then let Coulson and his crew take them all out first.

Because the old Kara would've wanted it that way. Because Fitz would want it that way.

Grant sighed as he sat up, and then rolled out of bed. He'd made contact with the few remaining members of Strike Team Alpha. They'd prove the hardest obstacle, as suspicious as the day was interminable, accustomed to leading, especially Rumlow. He had his work cut out with that band. All the other lost sheep had been easier to manipulate – he had the best results since Romanov, after all – but he'd be playing with the big boys now. He'd have to be a better secret keeper than Nick Fury.

So… no pressure.

"You're it?" he blurted. Brock raised an eyebrow, looking over HYDRA's new leader.

"Got a problem with that?" he asked. Ward's gaze flitted down to his hands briefly, the smallest movement barely there, before meeting Brock's eyes again.

"It's an honour to have you here," Ward said. "I'm just surprised. I thought more of the Strike team made it out. Don't get me wrong; I'm glad you're alive. Your experience and advice will be greatly appreciated."

"I have to rest more than I used to," Brock said. He had to admit it; better than collapsing in the field, especially in front of Ward. "Whatever they did to me was a miracle."

"Miracles are…" A mixed blessing, Brock knew. "Good. Like I said, glad to have you on board." He held out a hand. Hesitantly, Brock shook it, resisting the urge to wipe his palm on his trousers. This was his chance, and he wasn't screwing it up.

"Do you have any plans to show me, or should I just await orders… sir?" he said, internally grinding his teeth. Ward's expression didn't change: impressive.

"I think you and I are on equal footing, Agent Rumlow," he replied.

"Not an agent, unless that's the title you're using," Brock said.

Ward looked him up and down again. "Nice shirt."

"I got it out of a trashcan," he said dryly.

"Jolly Roger." He arched an eyebrow. "Rogers?"

"Ha-ha."

"Skull and crossbones." Ward looked contemplative. "Crossbones?"

"What?"

"Your codename. Skull just makes you sound like a lesser version of the Red Skull, and we know you're better than that. Crossbones sounds pretty cool, though."

Brock laughed shortly, surprised.

"I guess it does," he said. "What about you? Your codename?"

"I think SHIELD would call me Asshole, so I should probably stick with that." Brock snickered again. "Go get settled in. We haven't got much room yet, still renovating, but I put a room aside a room for Strike…"

Brock paused. "They were the closest thing I had to friends. None of their burner cells are working, and while I was in hospital I went to the morgue and identified nearly every one of my team. Only three of them missing, unless some of the other bodies were faked, or… but if we find them you'll let me talk to them, won't you?"

"Of course," Ward said. "Still got feelers out, and I thought I was getting more than one member of Strike, so it's possible we've already made contact."

"Good," Brock said, swallowing as he nodded. "Thank you."

It was the only way.

Skye frowned as she handed her report to Coulson.

"Looks like HYDRA's back," she said. "More like old contacts, not so many two-headed replacements. I can't find much, so they're obviously not relying on tech."

"Like the Deathlok files," Coulson said, sifting through the print-outs. "Any idea who's in charge?"

"I can guess."

"So can I, but I'm not jumping to conclusions," he said. "Ward was a top field agent, but he usually took orders. I don't see him as the new leader of HYDRA, do you?"

"Who else?" she said. "Anyone's capable of big things if they're desperate enough, and I think he's pretty pissed off. We saw Kara's body, and no one in SHIELD shot her, which means someone on his side – maybe Ward himself – did it. If she was masquerading as May, it's possible her killer shot first."

"If you were facing someone like May, wouldn't you?"

"If I knew how kickass she is? ICER first, questions later."

"That's because you're level-headed," he said. "I'll get someone to look into these."

Skye nodded, then left the office, hoping they'd formulate a plan to hit HYDRA before HYDRA could take out any more SHIELD agents. Time to look over the register and see whose skills they could use.

Grant looked up when there was a knock on his door pane. He waved Rumlow in, finishing his sentence before resting his pen on the desk, and mourning the fact that they couldn't use computers. Anything that could be hacked, in fact, which meant good old paper and pen.

"What can I do for you?" he said. Rumlow shut the door firmly, and approached the desk.

"I wondered if…"

"If?"

Rumlow sighed, and Grant waved him into the seat on the other side of his desk. The agent sank down gratefully, and stared into space for a few moments.

"If you could tell me anything about her," he said quietly.

Grant tilted his head. "Her?" he repeated, matching Rumlow's volume.

"My… soulmate."

Grant took half a minute to compose himself, and right his shaken perspective.

"Who is your soulmate?" he asked.

In answer, Rumlow rolled up his shirt, and showed off a mark in familiar writing, curving around his side.

"Simmons," he said, and Rumlow nodded, pushing his shirt back down.

"You've worked with her," he said. "Is there anything you can…?"

"She's smart," Grant said. "Two doctorates. One of the top students at the academy. She's… well, you'll know that she's twenty-seven." Rumlow hummed in agreement. "Pretty. This one time she was infected by an alien virus which killed its victims by… electrocuting them. Shorting out everything around them. We weren't going to get to a facility in time to find a cure, not before she could bring the whole plane down. She tried to develop one, and when she thought she'd failed, she knocked Fitz, her lab partner, out with a fire extinguisher and jumped from the plane."

"What?" Rumlow said, gripping the arms of his chair. The wood creaked, and Grant vaguely wondered whether it would crumble under Rumlow's strength.

"But then Fitz realised it did work. So while he tried to pull on a parachute, I took the cure, and the parachute, and jumped after her to administer the dose and stop her from plummeting into the ocean." Rumlow was paler than Grant had ever seen him.

"Thanks," he said faintly.

"She saved Fitz when they nearly drowned," he didn't mention the cause, "went undercover at HYDRA for months, convinced Bakshi and Whitehall that she was on their side, and the next time we saw each other she threatened to kill me if she ever saw me again. Then almost made good on that promise." Rumlow, who seemed to have calmed, arched his eyebrows. "She tried to turn me to dust. Bakshi saved my life. She… she really cares for the team. SHIELD all the way. Makes great sandwiches, and uses her weird British words to beat everyone at Scrabble. I don't know what else I can tell you."

"I think you've said enough."

Grant studied Rumlow, and he began to wonder.

"You want to meet her," he said.

"I'm going to, if we have each other's words."

"So why did you come here? She'd never work for HYDRA." When Rumlow didn't immediately reply, Grant decided to leap. What did he have to lose? "You want to prove that you can be the good guy, so you plan to take us down from the inside."

Rumlow didn't look scared. Too confident? He straightened , and proved Grant wrong.

"Who's your soulmate?" he said. It should've been left field, but he'd obviously worked it out.

"Fitz," he answered. "Leo Fitz, her best friend."

"I never knew you before, but I'd heard of you. One of Garrett's pets." Grant tensed at the words, but didn't deny it. "This end-game plan of yours that you've been concocting. He never would've taught you that strategy. That's pure Coulson. It'll put us in a prime position for the other side, if you tell them how to strike. I wondered why. Either you've lost it – and your behaviour doesn't suggest that – or you have other plans for New HYDRA. What's your incentive? We all know how much Coulson and his team hate you. You'd be lucky to get back into their good graces without the grand gesture. And why would you want to go back to them, risk it at all, assuming you even got out of this alive? This plan doesn't leave room for survivors, not if it goes to hell for us, and you know that, Ward. The only reason you'd do it is for redemption, and if this died with you they'd never know. I figured you might do it for your soulmate, though. It was just a matter of finding out which one it was."

"So you confessed about Simmons to get me to open up," Grant said.

"You're smart," Rumlow said. "Took a gamble. Hoped you'd realise…"

"The real reason you're here."

"I've never met her, but the words…" His shoulders slumped. "I don't know whether she'd forgive everything I've done, but I have to try. We'll meet anyway, so unless it's beforehand, I know I'll make it out alive. And I'm enhanced. But what if you…"

"What if I die?"

"Yeah. Is there any message you want me to give them?"

He thought about it. "Tell Fitz I never stopped caring, and I'm sorry I couldn't be what he wanted."

"That's it?"

He shrugged. "Fill in whatever blanks you want. I'd rather die and take HYDRA with me than fail and have him hate me forever. I've still got his soulmark. He probably doesn't have his anymore…" He looked at his folded hands. "Morse told me I need to take responsibility for my actions. My family…" He grimaced. "I didn't get the closure I thought I would. This'll be my final closure." He tapped the surface of the desk. "I hope you get out of it. And don't break Simmons's heart, or I'll return to haunt you."

"Understood, sir," Rumlow said, and he gave Grant a charming grin.

While Phil was talking to FitzSimmons in their lab, Skye burst in, and he was thankful that no one was holding anything breakable.

"They finally got a computer!" she said, bouncing on her toes as she leaned against the holotable, grinning. "I hacked it. Now we know where they'll be tomorrow."

She showed them what she'd found, but Phil wasn't taking this on faith.

"It could be a trap," he said.

"Well, duh," she said. "Point is, it could still lead us to them. Don't you think that's worth taking the risk? We can leave enough people here to hold the fort, set our own trap early, but not so early they'd have time to find and dismantle it, and then…" She made a blowing up motion, complete with whooshing sound effect. Phil looked at her blankly.

"What if they have hostages?" he said.

"Then we put in bugs as well," she said. "Scope out the area first. Seriously, DC, this is kids' stuff."

"That's what worries me."

"Look, it's the best lead so far. They don't have a hacker like me – well, I hope not – so we come up with backup plans. This is way more your style than HYDRA's—"

"So someone I've worked with," he said.

"Ward," Fitz said, clenching his fists on the tabletop. Simmons laid a hand over one of them, but he didn't relax.

"We all knew that, Fitz," she said. "He was your soulmate, so this is harder for you—"

"I never meant anything t' him."

"Clear head," Phil snapped, and the scientists looked at him. "We need things they won't be able to detect. Skye, set an alarm so you can check during the night and make sure the details haven't changed: location, time, number of people to expect. If we take out even a third of the organisation, I'll be happy."

"Even if it clues them in that I've hacked them once?" Skye said.

"Do you have a better plan?" She shook her head. "Good. I'll be in my office cooking up contingency plans. But I think the idea of…" He copied Skye's explosion move and noises. "Is a good one."

Skye smiled brightly, Fitz continued to study his hands, and Simmons looked far too pleased at the prospect of blowing up the enemy.

The building had come down. Phil stared at it, expecting some last-minute retaliation, the trap HYDRA wanted to spring on them. They all waited in tense silence, until a lone figure emerged from the wreckage, and staggered their way, hands in the air.

"This was all too easy," Skye said, glancing at the others. The man who approached them, wearing a black shirt with a skull and the crossed bones, spoke up.

"It was meant to be easy," he said. "For you. An 'I'm sorry' present from Grant Ward."

"Really?" Phil said, eyeing him dubiously. "Are we supposed to believe that, Rumlow?"

"Don't you think it was funny that he gathered every HYDRA agent he could find in one place, let you know the arrangements through a setup your hacker could access easily, and ensure that no one left the building? I'm… probably the only one alive."

"Why?"

"Enhanced after a Helicarrier ran over me at the Triskelion. I try not to bear a grudge towards Captain America."

"And why are you here now?" Fitz asked. Rumlow looked him over.

"Are you Fitz?"

"Yes."

"Message from Ward," he said. "He's sorry he couldn't be what you wanted, and he never stopped caring about you. He arranged all of this so you could eliminate HYDRA. I only survived because of whatever they pumped into me when I was at death's door."

"But you're…" Fitz moved his hand towards his side, and then stopped. "I didn't feel..."

"Ward still had your soulmark," Rumlow said. He'd lowered his hands part of the way, but not completely. "He knew you wouldn't have his anymore—"

"I do."

"...Oh."

"He had…" Fitz turned his back on Simmons and tugged up his shirt. "Is it still there? Can you see it?"

Simmons bent in close, and her jaw dropped. "Yes, it's there."

"Then he's alive?" Rumlow said. Fitz nodded quickly. "Shit. I've gotta find him." He met Simmons's eyes, opened his mouth, then closed it again. He turned away, and only took two steps before she spoke.

"You were on our side all along?" she asked. Rumlow stopped, glanced back over his shoulder, and inclined his head. Then he ran back to the wreckage, and Mack sighed.

"Great," he said. "Now I feel like I've gotta help."

"I'll come with you," Hunter said. "If any of them survived, I'll kill them myself."

"I'll join you," Phil said, wriggling his metal fingers. "This isn't just decoration."

"Me, too," Skye said. "I can move the debris faster."

"If you're sure—"

"I am."

Phil looked back at the others. "You stay here. If this is another trap I need you to run, get back to base if you have to."

"Phil," May said in her warning tone.

"I'm the director of SHIELD," he said. She pursed her lips, but didn't reply.

When they brought Ward back, Fitz and Simmons were there with the stretcher, and Phil and Mack placed him on it while Hunter, Skye, and Rumlow covered their backs.

"I'm sorry," Ward said, his voice hoarse and his face caked with dust. He was looking at Fitz, who was staring at him stonily. "I thought you and Simmons…"

"You rejected me first," Fitz said. "Are you blaming me for turning to her when I thought no one else cared?"

Ward shook his head as they loaded him into the van.

"I didn't think I'd make it outta there. Should've left me to…"

Then his occasional cough turned to hacking, body-shaking coughs, dust flying from his mouth. Simmons started to clean his face. Fitz took over, nudging her out.

"I can take it from here," he muttered. He didn't look ready to forgive; it would take all of them time to come to terms with what happened here. But Simmons perched on the edge of the van floor, feet swinging just above the ground, and looked up at Rumlow.

"Thank you," she said. He chuckled, and rubbed his grubby face.

"Did it all for you, sweetheart," he said, and her jaw dropped. Judging by her paleness, it was a good thing she was sitting down.

"You're my soulmate?" she said.

"Yeah," Rumlow said. "I've known for a long time, but I also knew you were loyal to SHIELD. I didn't think it'd mean anything, and… I was confused. Not a good excuse, I know, but it's the truth. When I found out Ward was rebuilding HYDRA, I knew he'd make contact with all of you eventually, or it was a pretty good bet, since he seems the type to bear a grudge. I had the same idea he did; set them up, then knock `em all down, and get on your good side. I knew we'd meet; it was just a matter of making it so your words – saying I was on your side the whole time – would be true. Then I realised what Ward's plan meant, and he told me Fitz was his soulmate. He doesn't think he has a chance, which I think is a real shame, after all he did to bring HYDRA down for—"

"Crossbones!" Ward said, struggling to sit up. Fitz pushed him back down with an annoyed grunt, and continued to clean the worst of the grit off his face.

"Stay down," Fitz said, and Ward scowled up at him. "Don't give me that look."

"Will if I want to."

"You're such a baby."

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything," Simmons said. Rumlow reached out, pulling his hand back before he could touch her shoulder.

"Maybe you'd better ride separately," he said.

"Good idea," May said, and she tugged Simmons away. "Come with me."

"I'll stay with the van," Phil said, peeling his eyes away from Fitz and Ward. "Thank you, Rumlow. You'll have to go through a lie detector—"

"Not a problem," he said quickly. "Anything to…"

"Even if she finds it hard to trust you?"

"She'd be stupid to trust me, and out of the two of us, she's the genius doctor, not me. I don't expect her to... I just want a chance for her to get to know me, and see whether I'm worth the time. And my skills set doesn't leave a lot of options open for me. With SHIELD's history of giving second chances where they might not be deserved…"

"Of course. Come with me, where I can keep an eye on you."

Rumlow bowed his head, and spied Phil's prosthesis. "Cool hand."

"Thanks."

"I think…" He looked at the van as Fitz continued to pin Ward down. "He was ready to make the sacrifice play all along, as long as you were all safe. Especially Fitz. There was never a question of Ward making it out alive. I don't think he wanted to. Whether that was so no one would question the plan, or whether he considered it atonement for…"

"For giving Fitz brain damage?"

"Yes."

"As atonements go, this was pretty impressive," Phil conceded. "I don't know whether any of us will ever be able to give him our full trust again—"

"Which would be a pity, director," Rumlow said, apparently already deferring to Phil's position. "Whatever his faults, he did this for his soulmate. He was willing to die to make the world a safer place for Fitz. He might've been a selfish guy before – we never met until he started to rebuild HYDRA – but if no one learns from their mistakes…"

"I know." The doors to the other car closed, and Skye waved from the window. "We'd better get into the van. After you, Agent Rumlow."

"Am I an agent?"

"You can be, if you past the test."

Rumlow nodded shortly, and hopped into the back, followed by Hunter and Phil. Lincoln and Mack were in the front. It felt a little like splitting the group by gender, but that's how it'd worked out. Besides, Fitz would feel more comfortable with Phil and Hunter there, and if Rumlow was genuine about wanting to join SHIELD – and they were definitely keeping him away from Simmons until after the lie detector test – then it would be more appropriate to have him in the van where Phil could keep an eye on him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked Rumlow as they neared the plane which would take them to the ship. "You climbed out of rubble."

"I'll heal quickly. Your medics can check, but I'm doing okay. Thanks for asking."

"No one at HYDRA ever asked whether you were okay?" Phil said.

"We were sent to medical to follow regs, but if it didn't look like we were about to keel over and die they didn't care too much."

"Pity you were on the wrong side."

"Damn good thing Ward did what he did," Rumlow said. Ward had doze off during the journey. He was going to get a rude awakening when they had to move him, since he was usually a light sleeper.

Phil hummed noncommittally.

"He's awfully handsome, isn't he?" Jemma said, peeking through the glass to the medical room where Brock… where Rumlow was being checked out… over. Checked over. She wasn't checking him out, no, sir.

"You're a basket case," Skye said. "That time in the rock addled your brain."

Jemma gave her the best scathing look she could summon, and then returned her attention to her soulmate. She'd seen the mark briefly, and it was her handwriting alright. She'd had Skye take a picture of her mark, close enough so that he wouldn't be able to tell where it was, although Skye said that if he knew it was on her leg it would drive him crazy thinking about how they'd have to be positioned to bond.

"Addled brain or not, he's a looker," she said.

"Okay, so you're right about that," Skye said. "But this is the only time I'll admit it, because he's your soulmate."

Jemma beamed. "That's perfectly acceptable," she said. "Thank you, Skye."

"You're welcome."

When Rumlow looked over at them, she ducked out of sight, and Skye snorted in laughter. Jemma admitted to herself that she looked childish, and she didn't need anyone pointing it out, thank you very much.

"Just you wait," she said. "When it happens to you…"

"Hopefully I won't have a HYDRA agent, past, current, or future," Skye said.

"That's low."

"No, that's truthful. You realise that if we forgive Rumlow, eventually we'll have to forgive Ward."

"Rumlow didn't betray us the way that Ward did."

"No, but Strike Team Alpha was working on a bigger scale. Ward was working for Garrett, who seemed to be working for himself as much as he worked for HYDRA."

Jemma sighed. "I hate life sometimes."

"But you got yourself a smouldering hot guy for a soulmate," Skye said. "Okay, so I broke my promise a little bit there, but you have to admit, when it comes to life, he's an excellent consolation prize. I still haven't found my soulmate. All I got out of today was most of HYDRA being brought down. Yay professionally. That's it."

"You've had a terrible life," Jemma said. "It will all balance out eventually. You'll find your soulmate, and it will be lovely, because you deserve it, Skye." Skye turned bashful.

"I'm not pinning my hopes on that," she said. "Thanks for the encouragement, though."

Jemma broke the moment by checking out her soulmate again. He winked at her, and she ducked behind the wall panel with a squeak. Skye burst out laughing.

Ward wasn't in bad shape, all things considered. Fitz would almost suspect him of being enhanced if it wasn't for the fact that he had fractured bones and internal injuries, which looked to be healing at a normal rate, i.e. just short of standstill. And he wasn't absorbing the drugs abnormally fast. Much as he hated it, Fitz left long enough to grab something to work on, then returned to Ward's bedside. He'd be quiet company, much more than his soulmate deserved, but his proximity would help the healing process. And if Ward truly was on their side, they needed him at full strength, the same as Rumlow.

Simmons and Rumlow. Good God. And Fitz thought it was bad enough being soulmated to Ward. At least he'd never directly betrayed Coulson's childhood hero. But what a coup if Ward and Rumlow joined SHIELD and fought against their enemies.

"Sorry." Ward kept apologising, which was annoying.

"Stop," Fitz said, jabbing the blueprints on the screen. "It doesn't get you extra points."

"Didn't think so." He coughed. Fitz refused to feel sorry for him.

"Whatever Rumlow said about you thinking you'd die doesn't make up for… for…"

"I know." Ward's voice was raspy. "Care… love you…"

Fitz nearly dropped his device, and stared at Ward. "No."

"Friend. Wanted more, but… mission…"

"That didn't stop you from sleeping with May and cosying up to Skye."

"They were… could…"

"They were acceptable?" Ward nodded. "Because they're women."

"If we'd bonded…"

"Then I would've known all about HYDRA, no matter how careful you were," Fitz surmised. That one was fairly obviously, to be honest. "You wanted to drive me away by making me think you were straight."

Ward's fingers twitched in his direction. Fitz moved his hand close enough for the tips of their fingers to brush, no more. The fleeting contact was electric, and he'd have withdrawn his hand if he could; but Ward entwined their fingers, and Fitz couldn't bring himself to pull away.

"I hate you," Fitz said. "What you did to us."

"S'posed to… float…" Ward coughed, wincing as it jerked his chest and probably strained his injuries.

"It wasn't just that. The months of lies. Working for HYDRA, for God's sake! Why?"

Ward eyed him. "Bad choices," he managed to say.

"No shit, Sherlock."

"Don't worry… `bout me." His breaths were unsteady, and Fitz considered asking Simmons to put in a breathing tube. It'd stop the talking. "Be with… who you want."

He rolled his eyes, and sat back in his chair, picking up his work again.

"Seems I stuck with you," he remarked. "Now sleep. Rest equals recovery." Ward settled into the pillows, watching Fitz with his peripheral. "And… we'll see. About the other thing."

Ward drifted back to sleep, this time with the slightest upturn at the corners of his mouth.

Left it kind of up in the air at the end there, didn't I? I didn't anticipate the chapter getting out of hand. Thought I should try for some good!Ward, spurred on by ozhawk's latest chapter. Hope it wasn't too unrealistic.

I threw in Rumlow/Simmons because I felt like it. As I told ozhawk, I've written so much slash lately that I felt I should balance it out with some het, and it felt like a nice symmetry to pair off both Fitz and Simmons in this. I don't know why I keep using Fitz to redeem people. I think I'm better at writing British characters, so I find it easier to write Fitz and Simmons. Plus, I just want to wrap him up in cotton wool sometimes and put him somewhere safe. Then again, I want to do that to at least half of the characters in MCU.

Please review!