A/N: This story is a sneak peek into an AU that could have happened if things were a bit different in the show. As a foreword, I'll only say that in the universe HYDRA exists – still in the shadows – but Ward is not aware of it. Everything else in here, I guess. Also, I think there's a lot more to it than this one-shot, but I have no capacity to write it, but if you want to, it's up for the grabs :) (Also I guess it's the only fic ever where I'll willingly call Skye Daisy.)

Another Interrogation

Agent Grant Ward stood in front of the interrogation room's two-way mirror, looking at the girl inside. She was the only living prisoner in the research lab they raided earlier today; she had some kind of power, it was clear from the data they managed to recover from the lab's server, but they had no idea what exactly. Furthermore, the girl herself was an enigma – no fingerprint, facial, or DNA match, like she didn't exist at all. And to make matters worse – she stubbornly kept her mouth shut, barely saying a word since she was brought in.

Ward took a good look at her now, studying every little detail, before going in and trying to get her talk. She was young, maybe around twenty. Her olive skin was pale, she had circles under her eyes and her long, dark hair hung lifelessly down her back. She was also thin, malnourished – he remembered how her collarbone had stuck out from under her hospital gown-like attire she wore when they found her –, but otherwise she seemed unharmed. On a good day, in her full glory, she must have been striking, but even now she had a grace about her he couldn't exactly grasp. She also had a confident, determined – stubborn – flame burning in her gaze, something he couldn't help but admire.

He let his shoulders drop for a moment as he sighed – it was time to try and break this girl whom captivity hadn't been able to break.

He walked into the interrogation room in a leisurely pace – he could feel her gaze on him –, then sat down opposite of her, looking into her eyes, unblinking. Ten seconds in, it was already a battle of wills.

"I just want to help, you need to know that," he told her after a full minute of silence, using a soft tone, speaking slowly, forming each word carefully, like he was taught at the academy. "I want to help you get home. But I need your help to do that."

She snorted at his words.

"Yeah, like I'll believe that." Her bravado was almost comical – she was a small woman, and her borrowed, oversized S.H.I.E.L.D.-hoodie made her look even tinier.

"You don't want to get home?" he asked, unfazed. Keep calm. Don't let them sway you. Stick to the objective. Appeal to their wants – he kept repeating his Academy lessons in his head.

"I don't want you to get to my home" she answered in a spiteful tone that confused Ward a bit. It was just not making sense – S.H.I.E.L.D. rescued her from a lab, and instead of gratitude, all they got from her was contempt. There had to be something there that made her act this way.

Ward took a deep breath.

"You don't need to be so hostile," he told her, his patience slowly slipping. "I really mean the best for you."

"Oh, seriously?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Like… what? Locking me up, doing tests on me? Or better yet, use me to get to the others?" He didn't know what she was talking about, but before he could have asked, she continued. "I have a better idea – go and fuck yourself!" And with that, although there was absolutely no point in it, she jumped from her seat and started for the door.

Ward was on his feet in a moment, catching her halfway and grabbing her hand, forcing her back to her seat with a little more force than absolutely necessary.

"What's wrong with you?" He slipped; he slipped and let his mask of patience fall down. He let out a huff of a breath once she was sitting again.

"What's wrong with me?" she repeated, her voice rising. "What it could be? It's just that the last time S.H.I.E.L.D. come to my home, they massacred everybody!"

Her words were followed by utter, complete silence. Ward blinked at her, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, the world spinning around him. He just didn't understand what she was talking about – S.H.I.E.L.D. massacring people? That couldn't have been right. He had seen a lot of ugly things S.H.I.E.L.D. did in the name of the greater good, but killing the population of a whole village? Nothing seemed to warrant that, not to mention that he should have had heard of an operation that big. It just wasn't adding up.

He counted to three in his mind, then let her go.

"I'm nothing like that," he told her, although even he wasn't sure he was telling the truth. What was going on here?

He walked to the corner, reached up, and turned off the camera there. Then walked back to the table, and slowly removed his firearms from their holsters – the left first, then the right –, and laid them out in front of her on the table.

The girl looked up at him, confused.

"What…?"

"I want you to trust me," he told her, with a lot less emotion than he felt. "I'm unarmed; you have your power, whatever that might be. You can overpower me, if you want – kill me, even –, and you can run. I'll even tell you where to go once you're out of this room." He looked into her eyes, gaze unwavering. "Or you can stay, and tell me what's going on, and then I can help you. Maybe," he added. "But I want you to know – you can trust me."

The girl hesitated for a moment, her eyes wide, her gaze searching him. Then she leaned back in her seat, took a deep breath, then started talking, looking at the wall behind him.

"When I was a baby, my family lived in small village in China – my mother was a local, my father an American surgeon. They met when he was there on a Doctors Without Borders Mission." He could see the tears glisten in her eyes, but she didn't stop, and he didn't interrupt her. "Then one day S.H.I.E.L.D. came – they were looking for my mother. She was special, you know? We have a name for it, but I think you guys would call her 'gifted'." He nodded, urging her to go on. "They killed everybody in the village; my father, too, although he managed to hid me first. As for mother?Her body was never found.

"It was my Uncle Gordon who found me, took me to Lai Shi – that's the home of my mother's people. Don't even ask where it is, I won't tell you," she added sharply. "That's where I grew up, raised by the elders who knew my mother. But then a…" She trailed off, choking up. "A couple of weeks ago Uncle Gordon disappeared. I left, trying to find him, but…"

"You were captured, too," he finished for her, a new kind of sympathy for her coming to life within him. She gave him a tiny nod.

"They killed him."

Instinctively, he reached over the table and placed his hand atop hers.

"Hey," he told her, making her look up at him. "I don't know what you are talking about was – it just couldn't have been an authorized S.H.I.E.L.D. operation –, but I know a couple of people who'd like to hear about it. And find out what really happened. And for that, we'll need your help."

She let out a teary chuckle.

"And why would you do that?"

"Because that's what I took an oath of – protection. And it seems like now it's your turn to be protected. Yours, and everybody else's who might be harmed in this case." He took a short pause, then continue. "Look, I can't promise you much. We might not even get anywhere with this. But believe me when I say: you don't have to be afraid of me." He squeezed her hand. "Just as I've already told you: I want to help. And I want to get to the bottom of it as much as you. Are you in?"

She regarded him for a moment before nodding.

"Alright. But if catch even a little foul play, I'll bolt, and you'll never see me again."

"It's a fair arrangement," he nodded, letting go of her hand. "But if we are to be really partners in this – can I at least get your name?"

She smiled faintly at him.

"It's Ju. But you can call me Daisy."

A/N: As for the name Ju – I checked it, it's an existing Chines name for girls, meaning "daisy flower". Since in the AU Skye was raised by the elders of Lai Shi – with whom Jiaying conversed in Chinese – I think it would be logical for them to call her by the Chinese equivalent of her name.