Episode 21: Ragtag
Part Two

Juvenile Secure Unit, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Fifteen Years Ago…

A young man was lead through a hallway by a guard. The guard opened a door, and the young man was leas into the mess hall.
"Grant Ward?" called a voice. The young man looked up, walking close to the speaker. "My name's John Garrett. The Quartermaster at your military school's an old buddy of mine."

Garrett pointed at an empty table and moved over to it, sitting down. Ward just glared at him, unmoving.
"He told me about a pissed off young cadet with off the charts hand eye coordination who went AWOL, stole a car, drove over a thousand miles home only to try and burn the place down. I must say, I find a young man like that intriguing."

When Garrett gestured at the table again, Ward finally sat down.
"I'm curious. Did you know your brother was in the house when you set it on fire?"
"No, sir, I did not."
"I was a pyro as a kid, too. Ended up making a pretty good living at it. I'm here to make you a one-time offer, so listen up. Your family's lawyer's gonna be here in about twenty minutes. Not only are your folks pressing charges against you for arson and attempted murder, bur your older brother's petitioning the court to have you tried as an adult."

The mask Ward was wearing cracked. He looked down nervously, swallowing hard.
"Now, you can spend the next few years locked up in a cage, blaming mommy and daddy and mean older brother for your problems, or, you can let me get you out of here and teach you how to be a man. I work for a secret organization that's always looking to recruit young men like you."
"And why should I trust you?" Ward asked.
"You shouldn't. Don't trust anybody, ever, especially me."

A smile toyed on Garrett's mouth.
"Let me be clear, going with me will be the hardest thing you've ever done. But, on the other hand, no one will ever screw with you again." Ward looked down in thought, then looked back up at Garrett. "Say yes. It will be hard, but fun." He glanced down at his watch. "Ten seconds and I walk out the door." Ward just stared at him, and Garrett leaned in closer. "Say yes."
"Yes."

Suddenly an alarm started to go off. Ward jumped a bit when the doors opened fast and loudly behind him. Men rushed in with guns.
"Get down! Everybody down!" Everyone in the room, except Garrett, got down and exclaimed in surprise. Ward looked at the men and then back to Garrett. Garrett raised a small paper cup up to him.
"I told you it was gonna be fun."

Present Day

Fitz-Simmons and Skye sat in the motel room, watching a newscast.
"Eyewitness claim the assailant smashed through several walls before killing Columbia's most notorious drug lord, Alejandro Castillo a.k.a. El Dogo. Speculation continues as to whether this superhuman assassination was carried out by a man, monster, or machine."

Rolling his eyes, Fitz shot off the TV as a blurry shot of Mike Peterson appeared.
"The correct answer is "D" all of the above." He looked over to Simmons and Skye. "What the hell is Deathlok doing in Bogota?"
"And why would he kill a drug lord with known ties to Hydra?"
"Well, if they really are in Columbia, then Garrett and our hijacked plane might not be in American airspace," Skye said. "I have to expand our search."

There was a knock on the door that divided their rooms and Coulson poked his head inside.
"Guys, you want to come here for a minute?" They looked at each other before standing, following him into his room where May was standing in front of a tripod with a large pad of paper balanced on it.

There was one big circle in the center of the paper with a lot of little circles around the bigger one. Inside each circle were different names. Ward & Garrett; Clairvoyant; Hydra; Quinn; Deathlok; The Bus; GH-325; Skye's Hard Drive; Centipede serum. "This is just about everything we've been dealing with. And this…" He pointed at the big circle in the middle, which was still blank.
"This connects them all." He scribbled something inside the circle then backed away to show the team. Cybertek.

As he spoke, he connected lines from Cybertek to each entity.
"Cybertek built Deathlok, shipped items to Quinn, who was working for The Clairvoyant, who turned out to be Garrett, who planted Ward on our bus, because he wanted to know why I didn't stay dead… Should've drawn another chart for this part."
"No, I get it," Fitz said. "Garrett's been developing centipede serum all this time."
"Yes."
"And he wants GH-325 as its final ingredient," said Simmons, "a way to stabilize and regenerate his centipede soldiers."
"And it's why Ward came back for the hard drive," May said. "It had all of your research about Coulson and Skye. It's all on there."
"But that's not the only thing on there," Coulson said. "Skye left them a little surprise."
"A Trojan horse," Skye said. "It's been slowly mapping every system they've uploaded it to."
"Well, that's brilliant," Fitz said.
"A Trojan horse?" Simmons asked excitedly. She hit Fitz' leg. "You can wake it up and take over their system! Well done, Skye."
"Yeah, thanks," she gave them a fake smile that dropped after a moment. "Except it doesn't work that way because I didn't have enough time to build it, so we need to plug this into one of their computers to activate it." She pulled out a flash drive, showing it to them. "Spoiler alert, we can't seem to find one."
"I think we have," May said.

She spoke while Skye wanted the drive to Coulson.
"Garrett and Cybertek have been working together for years. If it's on Garrett's system…"
"It's on Cybertek's," Skye realized. "Which is why we're gonna go into one of their offices."
"We have no authority to do this," Coulson said. "We are no longer S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, we're…"
"We're vigilantes," Fitz said. Coulson pursed his lips.
"I was gonna say, "doing this because it's the right thing to do," but yeah. So, if you're with me, I'm gonna finish what I started. I'll be damned if I'm gonna let Garrett and Ward get away with murder… and I want my plane back!"

Ward had his arms crossed as he watch Garrett take a swig of his beer.
"I could have crossed off that drug lord without getting my picture taken. Single shot, half a mile away."
"You're missing the point. I didn't want to just cross him off. I wanted to make a spectacle. People are killed buy guys every day in Bogota. But how often does a monster punch a drug lord's head clean off." He walked towards Mike, Ward standing to follow. "Hell, that's international news. Spectacular thing you did back there, Mikey. If I didn't know better, I'd swear you're starting to enjoy your job."

Garrett glanced over to look at Ward, who didn't take his eyes off of Mike.
"Are you getting the impression he's enjoying his job?"
"Somebody does," Ward answered. "Well, I'd like to think we all enjoy our work… And why not? These are exciting times full of rewards. Which reminds me—" He pulled out a cellphone and put it to his ear. "Zeller. Yeah, it's me. Stream Mike Peterson some video of his son this afternoon."

Turning off the cellphone, he gave Mike a big smile.
"Don't mention it." He started to walk away with Mike, who was still staring daggers at the two of them. "How about that guy? I've turned him into a new man."
"Is that what he is?" Ward asked.
"Are you still sore about what he did to you?"
"No, I'm sore at you for making him do it."
"Look, we're on the verge of completing something I've been chasing for twenty-five years. Can't you just be happy for me?" Ward rolled his eyes as they entered the lab.

Inside, Raina was waiting with a smile.
"See, that's what I'm talking about," Garrett said. "Happy campers."
"I think you'll be happy, too. We're close to replicating the drug that healed Skye and brought Coulson back to life. And the data from Skye's hard drive, all that research, it's been a big help. I've uploaded everything to the lab in Cuba. They'll have initial results by the time we land."
"You never disappoint, do you, Flowers. Wish everyone on my team had the same success rate." He shot Ward a dirty look before walking away.

Sighing, Ward rubbed at his face. He started away from the lab, turning a corner to a small room where Garrett had ordered Sara to be held. He waved away a guard as he stepped into the room. She was sitting at a small table, hands folded in front of her.
"Hey Sara."
"Ward."
"So… we haven't had a chance to talk." He sat down across from her, matching her pose.
"Who says I wanna talk?"
"Babe—"

She cut him off, glaring at him.
"Don't do that. Don't act like we're fine. This is far from fine." She took a deep breath. "I get it, okay. Garrett saved you. Got you to believe in his cause. You are doing what you think is right."
"You don't understand, Sara. I owe Garrett everything. Hell, if not for him, I never would have met you."
"Do you believe in his cause?"
"More like I believe in Garrett."

Closing her eyes, Sara's head dipped down for a moment.
"Then we have nothing to talk about." Ward blinked at her, then dropped his gaze down to her hand where her engagement ring still sat.
"Thought you would have taken it off by now." She glanced back up at him.
"Should I have?" He didn't answer, just sat back in his seat.

Coulson stood by the pool on his phone.
"Okay. We'll see you soon." He hung up and walked over to Skye and Fitz. "We're on with the R&D department at Cybertek's Palo Alto offices." Groaning, Fitz leaned back in his seat.
"It'll be okay, Fitz," Skye soothed. "No matter how deep they dig, they'll only find the new identities I've created."
"It's not that. It's the idea of giving them access to all of our designs."
"We're actually not giving them anything," Coulson said. "We just need to get inside so we can plug Skye's flash drive into one of their computers. You don't have to go."
"It's not that either. It's Ward. What if Garrett put an exploding eye into him, to control him? Maybe that's why he betrayed us."
"I'm pretty sure there's a much simpler reason," Skye said. "He's evil."
"Well, I don't believe people are born evil. Something must've happened."

The gate squeaked and they all looked over to see Trip walking over to them. He was carrying a large suitcase.
"Hey. Sorry it took so long," Trip said. "My mom's real sentimental about granddad's Howling Commando stuff."

He carried it inside, the others following. He set the suitcase on the bed, opening it for them to see what was inside.
"Trip was generous enough to offer up some of his granddad's spy tech to help us out, so we should systematically take full inventory of every—" Something caught his eye, and he became distracted, reaching into the case. "Oh my, God. Is that a handheld hypno-beam?"
"One of the original betas," Trip answered. "See how it has the switch on the bottom?"
"The production models moved it to the side. This is amazing."
"Almost as cool as…"
"Transistorized blast gun," Trip finished with him. They grinned at each other.

Skye rolled her eyes with a small chuckle.
"Okay. The two of you can get a room later, but we have a plane to catch." She was distracted when she noticed Fitz messing with something. It looked like an old school noise maker. He began to spin it, but Coulson noticed and quickly stopped him.
"No."

Something in the case caught Skye's eye and she picked it up, looking at it. It looked like a prank buzzer.
"Come on, girl, that's not really a job buzzer," Trip said. "That's a—" Before he could finish, she pressed the button. The electricity crackled and the lightbulbs blew out the room. "E.M.P.," he finished. Everyone sighed, giving Skye a look. "It knocks the power out in about a ten-foot radius."
"Yeah," Fitz said, wearing what looked like a pair of googles. "A lot of vintage S.H.I.E.L.D. spy craft was designed to look innocent in case a spy was caught. Like um…"

Reaching into the suitcase, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
"Okay, like these smokes." He pulled one out and twisted the end. A laser beam shot out from the end. He mocked smoking the cigarette as the others smiled at him.
"Thanks, Trip," Coulson said. "This is a huge help. Gives us a fighting chance against these bad guys."

Suddenly the smoke alarm went off and everyone turned to see the curtains on fire. Fitz had accidently pointed the laser at the fabric. He grimaced as Simmons shook her head fondly.
"Oh, Fitz." He slowly turned off the laser pointer.
"Watch out, Hydra," May said. "Here we come."

Fifteen Years Ago

Garrett held a couple ducks in one hand with his gun slung over his shoulder as he walked next to Ward on a path along the lake. A dog trotted alongside them.
"I'm gonna retire out here one day," Garrett said. "A thousand acres of Wyoming woods and meadows already paid for… Speak up, son. I'm not a mind reader."
"What if the police find us?" Garrett laughed as he veered them off the path.
"Nobody's looking. Family will be happy to never see you again. As for cops, well… They do best when they stay out of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s way."
"So… is the S.H.I.E.L.D. academy near here?"
"Right now, you have more pressing issues. Like what you're gonna eat tonight."

Confused, Ward glanced down at the ducks in Garrett's hand.
"I thought that was our dinner." Garrett held up the birds, showing them to Ward.
"No, this is my dinner. I shot them, I eat them. Hell, Buddy deserves these birds more than you do. He retrieved them."

Walking up to a truck, Garrett put the ducks in the cooler in the bed of the truck.
"Out here, son, if you want something, you have to earn it. From here on out, you earn everything." He pulled a bag out of the bed of the truck, throwing it at Ward, who caught it with a questioning look. "You want a warm place to sleep, you make it. You want something to eat, you kill it." He nodded at Ward, then walked around to the driver's side of the car.
"Wait, wait! Y-you can't be serious. All-all I have in here are some clothes. Right? This isn't fair. If you'd have told me, I-I'd have brought tools or food—"
"Stop blaming me for your own failure!" Garrett shouted. "Makes me not like you. You want easy? Go back to juvie. They'll give you three squares and a cot. Confirm what your family believes, what everybody believes, that Grant Ward is weak and worthless."

The young boy's jaw clenched in anger.
"Tell you what," Garrett said. "I'll leave Buddy here." He glanced down at the dog, who whined at him. "You take care of him, maybe he'll take care of you." He opened the door, stowing his gun inside. "I'll be back in a couple of months. Either you'll be here or you won't. It's up to you. But for what it's worth…" He climbed into the truck, sitting behind the wheel. He pulled the door shut, giving Ward one more look. "I believe you can do it."

Starting the truck, Garrett drove away, leaving Ward behind. Buddy barked at the truck, upset at being abandoned. Ward threw his bag to the ground in anger, looking wildly around as he realized how alone he was.

Present Day

May and Coulson walked through Cybertek Corporation. They were dressed like Fitz-Simmons, a fact that Simmons had said would have made Sara laugh. The mention of their missing agent made them sober instantly. They had a job at hand. The two also wore thick glasses, and faking matching smiles.
"Welcome to Cybertek," one of the lab techs said. "Sit, please. I'm Ott, Senior VP of R&D. This is Diaz."

Coulson nodded, clapping his hands in excitement.
"I'm Theo Tittle. This is Dr. Roum." May gave them a smile and waved some of her fingers, much like Simmons did. "Thank you so much for seeing us on such short notice," Coulson continued. Ott nodded slowly.
"We've met with a number of other former S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists recently and I must say, thus far, we're… underwhelmed."

Both Coulson and May gave him small looks of insult.
"Hydra, on the other hand," Ott continued, "is less constrained in their thinking. And younger."
"Usually younger," Diaz echoed.
"I told you we should've gone in," Fitz buzzed through their ears.

Outside, the rest of the team was sitting in the back of a cleaning service truck.
"Oh, hush," Simmons said. "May looks barely a day over…" Fitz pointed at the radio in her hand and she lifted it closer to her mouth. "… thirty. You're gorgeous."

A beep came from Skye's computer, and she grinned.
"Score one for the Howling Commandos," she told Trip. "Your grandpa's pin should help me locate Cybertek's mainframe." "I didn't know they had Wi-Fi back in the day."
"They didn't," Skye said. "That's the beauty of the pin. It uses UHF to search for data. Nobody's even scanning those frequencies for potential leaks."

She laughed until another message appeared on her laptop. UNABLE TO DETECT DATA SIGNATURES.
"That's weird," she muttered. "I'm not finding any digital data about anything, let alone a source for it. How is that possible?"
"Maybe it's protected?" Trip suggested.
"Or… insulated somewhere inside."
"Hmm." She picked up her radio, speaking to Coulson and May. "Guys, just keep them busy a minute longer."

Back inside, Coulson and May started showing off the I.C.E.R. bullet, each of them reciting whatever jargon Fitz-Simmons were telling them.
"I designed this to be powerful, nonlethal, and to break-break up under subcutaneous tissue," Coulson said.
"And my challenge," May added, "was that it could only hold a dose of eighty-five micrograms of Dendrotoxin. He should have run the specs by me before building the molds. But I think we can all agree that the true beauty is in my hyper concentrated dendrotoxin formula with compressed air expulsion."
"And my cartridge case ejection system, obviously," Coulson added.

Ott studied the bullet closely.
"We've seen one of these bullets before. What did they use it with?" he asked Diaz.
"The sleepy-sleepy gun, I think," Diaz answered.
"That's right," Ott nodded. "Our team took this rudimentary concept and converted it into an aerosol grenade. Much more useful."
"Yes, but this is an I.C.E.R. Triple the stopping power and a much cooler… name."
"What else do you have?" Ott questioned.

Back in the van, Skye nodded slowly as her laptop pulled up the schematics of the building.
"Here we go. Building permits Cybertek's filed in the cit. There's something funky about the fourth floor. Only one way in or out. Extra reinforced security door."
"That's got to be it, right?" Trip asked.
"Coulson, May, can you get to the fourth floor?"

May and Coulson left the conference room, walking to the elevator.
"It is a shame it didn't work out," Coulson told Ott. "It is."
"So lovely meeting you both," May said. The elevator doors opened, and they walked inside with a guard. He put a key into the elevator, turning it then pressing the first floor.

A moment later, the elevator was going up instead of down. When it reached the fourth floor, May and Coulson stepped out, dragging the guard along with them.
"Does your sweater itch?" May asked.
"A little bit," Coulson agreed.

Scratching at her arm, May led them down a corridor and they froze when they saw another guard. May noticed a red phone attached to the wall, right in the middle between her and the guard. She locked eyes with the man then rushed for the phone. He reached the phone first, but she managed to kick it out of his hand as she flipped in front of him. She knocked him out, then hung up the phone. She took a breath, pushing the glasses up on her face. Coulson smiled at her.
"I don't know if I've said this enough, but… I'm glad you're back."

She smiled back at him as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
"Try not to set the drapes on fire," May teased. He rolled his eyes as he used it to cut the shape of a rectangle into a door. It fell away, allowing them to walk through it. They paused when they saw rows of filing cabinets.
"Skye," said Coulson. "I think I know why you couldn't find the mainframe. There isn't one."
"What do you mean there isn't one?"
"All their files are hard copies."
"Well, we're here," May said. "Might as well look around."

Raina pulled up an image onto a monitor in the lab. She studied a set of red blood cells.
"You're staring at me again," she murmured. Mike spoke from behind her.
"You gave them my son." Her head lowered just a bit. "All I see are pictures of him in a cell."
"I was following orders, just like you."
"So, is someone playing God with you, too?"
"Seeing everything you see? Waiting to push a button and blow a hole in your skull if you disobey?"

She spun around as he got close to her.
"Is there?" he pressed.
"No." "Then why are you here?"
"For you and others like you, people with gifts. I'm waiting for what's inside to be revealed." She turned back to the monitor. "The girl, Skye, what do you know about her? Where does she come from?"
"Why do you care?"
"Because inside, I believe she and I have something in common."

Back at Cybertek, Coulson noticed a drawer reading: Cybertek Brand Corporation Security. His hand paused on the handle, but he continued down the line. He noticed another one: Cybertek Metrobank Correspondence.
"Hey, Coulson," called May. He walked over to her, seeing a folder in her hand. "Mike Peterson's file."

Tilting his head to the side, Coulson started riffling through the drawer labeled: Cybertek Project Deathlok Blood & Bionics.
"How can this all be Project Deathlok?" He pulled one out: Cybertek Project Deathlok Reconstruction. "1990? How far back does this thing go?"

He opened the top drawer and pulled out the oldest file. Him and May looked in shock at what was written on it. It was a file for John Garrett; Reconstruction Subject 1990.
"Garrett was the first Deathlok," Coulson murmured. There was a body chart showing the extensive damage to Garret's abdomen, both bone and organ damage.

Figure 1: Broken Fractures: Jaw (shattered); Neck (broken C4, C5); Collarbone (right); Humerus (right); Sternum (broken); Ribs (2 right, 4 left); Radius (right, left); Ulna (right); Pelvis (right side); Femur (left); Tibia (right); Fibia (right); and Tendon/Ligaments (multi).

Figure 2: Organ Damage: Lung (lacerated); Heart (valve damage); Heart (lacerated); Liver (shrapnel); Spleen (rupture)…

May took a deep breath before gasping when their silence was broken by radio chatter. She glanced over her shoulder at the door.
"Let's go," Coulson ordered. They started shoving files back into the cabinet. "Skye, Trip, get ready for a large file transfer."
"How large?"

They drug the cabinet over to the window and pushed it out. They heard yelps over their comms as it landed near the truck. They watched Fitz-Simmons rush to the cabinet while Trip aimed something at the window. Coulson caught sight of the device and pulled May slight away. Trip fired the device, launching a grappling hook that latched into the ceiling for them to get away.

As Fitz-Simmons loaded the cabinet into the truck, Coulson removed his belt to use on the grappling hook. May grabbed a bent piece of metal and Coulson gestured for her to go first. She rolled her eyes at him before sliding out. He followed shortly after. They climbed into the truck, order Skye to drive and she took off back towards the hotel.

Ward paced angrily in front of Garrett before stopping, hands on his hips.
"You were gonna let me die!"
"Okay," Garrett said from his spot at Coulson's desk. "First off, I think we should use our indoor voices."
"Since the day we met, I have done everything you asked."
"Not sure we can say "everything.""
"You were gonna let Deathlok kill me to get that hard drive?"
"Come on. We both know Sara wasn't gonna let you die. Anybody else would have been a gamble, one I would probably have lost. But for whatever reasons I can't explain, she loves you."
"I'm not that scared kid anymore," Ward hissed.
"Then stop acting like it!"

Garrett stood form his seat and walked around to stand in front of Ward.
"Stop being weak! All these years and you're still playing the victim. Sometimes I ask myself why I even bothered." He let out a grunt of pain, then doubled over with another grunt, clutching his abdomen.
"John?" He fell to the side and Ward narrowly caught him. "John! John!"

Yelling for another person, Ward managed to get Garrett down to the lab.
"Everybody out! Now!" he commanded. He and another man got Garrett up on a table while Raina watched them.
"Here we go," Ward told Garrett. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing Raina. "I said get the hell out!" She was quickly ushered out of the room.

Opening a small metal box, Ward pulled out a pair of tweezers as Garrett pulled up his shirt.
"I'll get you stabilized," Ward said. He took a piece of the metal place on Garrett's side off, exposing three plugs. He took a few wires from the metal box and plugged them into Garrett's side. "Biometrics rebooting," he said, leaning back on his heels.

He hit some buttons and switches, causing tones from the device to go higher. Ward let out a deep breath.
"There. That should do it. You scared me. Hasn't happened like that in a while."
"Yeah, it has," Garrett grumbled. "Been happening more and more. The biomechanics are fine. It's my organs that are failing."
"What are you saying, John?"
"I'm dying. Cybertek team gives me a month, two tops." Ward didn't say anything, worry taking over his face.

The team sat around tables at the pool, all flipping through files.
"Garrett started Project Deathlok way back in 1990," Coulson said. "Look at this. He was patient zero."
"We've been looking at all this backwards," Skye said, rubbing a hand across her forehead. "Garrett doesn't just want GH-325 for his Centipede soldiers. He wants it for himself. So that he can become a real, live boy again. And if he happens to create an army of programmed super soldiers for Hydra along the way, triple bonus points."
"How do we know Garrett didn't do that to Ward, too?" Fitz asked. "Maybe he's been programmed."

Simmons gave Fitz a soft look.
"Fitz, when are you gonna stop clinging to the idea that Ward's the victim and not the perpetrator?"
"When I see something that tells me I shouldn't with my own two eyes. We don't know all the facts." Skye scoffed, leaning in close to him.
"You want a fact, Fitz? Ward murders people? And you know what, despite the fact she tried to save me, how can we be sure Sara isn't apart of it."

Fitz lunged for her at the mention of Sara and Trip pulled him back.
"Sara is no double agent," Trip snapped for Fitz.
"How do we know?" Skye asked. "Hell, she's engaged to him."
"Don't talk about my sister like that," Fitz snarled. "Sara would never become Hydra. She has never trusted Garrett as far as she could throw him."
"But Ward?" Fitz faulted at the question.
"If she trusts him, I trust him."
"She should have let Mike finish him when she had the chance. She's weak."

May stood from her seat, arms crossed threatening over her chest.
"Sara Reyes-Fitz is the strongest and smartest agent in all of S.H.I.E.L.D. If she didn't kill Ward, then she has a plan."
"Or she's distracted," Skye snapped.
"Either way, we are going to find them," Coulson said.

From behind them, a man walked up, carrying a pile of pizza boxes.
"Delivery for Pablo Jimenez?" Everyone glanced around each other before Coulson realized who was being addressed.
"Oh, that's me." He stood, greeting the pizza guy while Skye stormed away. May watched her go.