So, again, I'm sorry for both taking so long to get this chapter finished and for the length. Hopefully it's good though! So please, enjoy. Also, a thank you to my lovely friends who helped me work out some details and ColonelWoytuck for reading over the scene between Skye and Coulson.
-Illusinia
-Present Day-
Voices woke Skye, drawing her her towards consciousness. At first, Skye wasn't sure what had actually woken her; whoever was talking wasn't exactly shouting. Then a frustrated voice that clearly belonged to Bobbi cut through the haze of sleep.
"She was right to spring him," stated Bobbi, her words coming into focus as Skye's brain came back online. "I was in there, Hill. The place was a Hydra base in disguise and they were definitely not having a tea party."
"Bobbi," warned May, her voice carrying a firm tone that said Bobbi was out of line. "She's right, Hill. Something about this isn't right."
"So take him to Coulson," stated Hill in what could only be described as extreme irritation.
Well, apparently any chance Skye had for rest was over. Opening her eyes, Skye slowly shifted to sit up then stand. Her back cracked in a way that made her wince as she did, but she ignored it. Sleeping on the ground did that to you. "DC won't listen to reason on this one, I already tried."
Spotting May, Trip, and Bobbi all basically in the cockpit, she made her way up to the group, sliding in next to Bobbi. An unhappy, dark haired woman glared at her from a video screen; not that Skye blamed her one bit- the woman was clearly ex-SHIELD and Ward was a traitor.
"If Coulson sends Ward back than good riddance," stated Hill, once she could see Skye. "It means he has common sense."
And somehow, that comment was enough to make Skye snap. Maybe it was the marked lack of recent sleep or maybe it was the fact that no one seemed willing to listen, but she felt whatever limited patience she had fly out the window. "Yes, because sending a super-soldier back to Hydra sounds like a great idea. They so need that technology over us. Better yet, let's let them clone him like the asshole who originally experimented on him intended."
The silence that followed her statement was heavy, but Skye really didn't care. Bobbi, Trip, Fitz, and Mack already knew and she assumed the same applied to May. Obviously, Trip had found some way to talk the woman into coming along.
For a long moment, Hill stared silently at them with a completely blank face. Then, to Skye's surprise, the woman let out an aggravated sigh. "Stark had the foresight to build a hanger on the east side of the building. I'll have JARVIS open the doors and get someone up there to meet you. Just come in cloaked."
"Already cloaked," stated May as she reached up to flip something on the console above her head. "We needed to be to outmanuver the anti-air guns on the prison's roof." Hill actually winced a little at May's clear irritation. Or maybe it was the whole 'anti-air gun' thing. That wasn't exactly standard prison equipment. "We'll need a stretcher. Ward is out cold."
"I'll have someone waiting to take him to medical," replied Hill, her lips compressing into a line. "I don't like this."
"You aren't alone," muttered May. It could be Skye's imagination, but she thought the other woman may have glanced at Trip.
Skye just rolled her eyes. "Look, can we just figure this out? I'm 90% sure Ward is a super-soldier experiment and I'd like to find out if that's true or not."
"It's something we kinda should know," agreed Trip, who definitely shot a look at May. Right then, well, that was...new.
"I'll see all of you shortly," stated Hill with a sigh before she flipped off the monitor.
Stepping back out of the cockpit, Skye turned to find Fitz and Mack watching the exchange from beside Ward. Both men were strangely silent, but Skye ignored them and dropped back into her original seat by Ward's head. For a long moment, she just sat there watching him sleep, wondering if everything was actually worth it. It felt like all she was doing was fighting with everyone at this point. Maybe all of this hadn't been worth it. After all, what was the chance Ward actually was a super-soldier or that Hydra really would have been able to clone him?
"Skye?"
Fitz's voice drew her eyes up to meet those of the engineer. His face was drawn and tight- not really a surprise given how close he was sitting to the man who hurt him. Still, despite his clear discomfort, there was understanding in his eyes. "Do-don't give up, Skye. I don't like he-helping him, but it has to be done."
Nodding slowly, Skye looked back down at the man restrained in front of her. He was still out cold, but she could see the gentle rise and fall of his chest. It was reassuring, it meant he was alive. It meant they still had a chance to find answers. And who knew, maybe Ward even had a few answers himself.
"Hey, Skye." Glancing up again, she found Bobbi holding a folder out to her. " I thought you might want to see this."
"What is it?" asked Skye as she took the file and flipped it open. An image of Ward stared up at her, blank faced and grim. It was his SHIELD ID photo, an echo of a man Skye had thought she'd known. It actually hurt to look at the photo.
Turning the photo over, she skimmed the top page of the file. It looked like a pretty standard SHIELD bio with notes about where Ward was from, his family, etc. Nothing surprising or exciting. Nothing out of place. The next page was an entirely different matter.
The second page featured the Hydra logo predominantly on the top and contained a medical observation list citing experiments and the results. Blood tests, tissue samples, and even observation of his healing rate. It was sick, particularly the healing rate tests. They'd recorded remarkably rapid healing rates in Ward and noted his SHIELD medical file showed no sign he'd ever been sick during his time with them. Of course, the later could be explained away, but the former was harder.
The last page in the file was a photocopy from what looked like another file. It didn't offer much information other than a statement of what an attempted super-soldier experiment was supposed to achieve. Basically, it was useless, though several sentences were highlighted. One in particular mentioned rapid healing as a side effect of the original experiment along with another citing enhanced strength. The folder was pretty bare otherwise though.
"Is this the folder that you found with Ward?" asked Skye, closing the folder unhappily. It didn't honestly say anything at all; all it did was confirm Hydra was experimenting on him.
"The Sims file is a little more enlightening," offered Bobbi, offering Skye a significantly thicker folder.
She took it, flipping open the file and praying something useful was recorded inside. Maybe Sims' file would finally offer them an explanation. Hell, at this point, she'd take a breadcrumb. Anything to back up the claims she'd been making. If she couldn't back anything she was saying up, she wasn't sure what would happen.
The first page was a resume and some surveillance information on Sims; nothing particularly interesting. She noted that Sims seemed to frequently visit Boston, but no one seemed capable of figuring out why. She guessed It had to do with his lab, though. He had set the thing up near Plymouth after all.
The next page was more of the same, but the third caught her eye. It was identical to the photocopied page at the end of Ward's file. Skye felt her heart pick up. It was the first hint she'd seen of any kind of connection between Ward and Sims that was concrete. It wasn't really a connection of course- it was more like a checklist. But it proved Hydra had shared her suspicions.
"Check out the next page," suggested Bobbi casually as she leaned against the wall beside Skye.
Flipping to the next page, Skye felt her stomach fall out. It was a genealogical profile. Specifically, it was Steve Roger's genealogical profile. There were notes at the top specifying the ideal test subject would be a maternally related individual to increase the probability of matching blood types. There was a woman's name circled at the bottom- some distinctly foreign name Skye was pretty sure she couldn't correctly pronounce if she wanted to. And beside the name there was a single German word scribbled on the paper.
"It's German for 'target'," stated Bobbi as if the woman could read Skye's mind. "Doesn't list any children, but there's something you should see on the next page."
Flipping to the next page, Skye almost dropped the folder. Across the top, the words 'ideal target' were scrawled along with a notation the individual was obtained from Utena in the USSR. It went on to list the subject as male, but failed to give an age or birthday. The rest of the sheet pertained to how the individual would be smuggled from the country.
"So what do you think?" asked Bobbi as soon as Skye had closed the folder. "Think that could have been Ward?"
"Maybe," muttered Skye, shaking her head. "I mean, there's nothing that said what happened to the target or how old they were. All it really said was that they were looking for a maternal relative."
"Which could be Ward or Ward could be a decoy to draw attention away from the real test subject," surmised Mack, the man glancing up as the bay got a little dark. Skye hadn't even noticed them approaching the hanger, but apparently May had found the way in.
The jet jostled slightly a moment later as the feet touched the ground. Almost immediately, everyone was climbing to their feet except Ward, who was still out cold. Mack helped Fitz step over the ex-SHIELD agent, moving him towards the back of the jet. Bobbi followed him, hitting the latch for the bay door as she passed it.
"That should be our next priority," remarked Bobbi as the bay door began to lower. "Figure out exactly who he is."
"Yeah," agreed Skye, looking down at Ward. "Let's get him in medical first, though. Who knows what Hydra's been doing to him."
"We plan to," assured a voice half a second before Natasha Romanoff, the freaking Black Widow, came up the jet's ramp followed by none other than Captain Steve freaking Rogers. Skye actually felt a little like she might pass out.
"Breathe Skye," advised Trip with a chuckle, dropping a hand to her shoulder. "Also, you're drooling."
"Thanks," muttered Skye, shaking her head to clear away any lingering shock. They just landed in Stark Tower; she needed to get her head in the game. There were going to be a lot of questions and everyone was probably going to be looking at her for the answers. She needed her head on straight.
"Hill said he needed to be escorted to medical," continued Natasha as she knelt beside Ward and checked him for a pulse.
"She also said he's extremely dangerous but failed to mention who he is, who you are, and how you ended up here," added Steve with a suspicion that made Skye want to punch him. She was so done with this shit.
"We'll explain once we get Ward to medical," stated May, stepping out of the cockpit. A glance back at the pilot revealed nothing, but she knew May wasn't happy about this still. Except there was something there- pity maybe? Something that hovered at the edge of her eyes like some ghost. Skye couldn't tell what it was or who it was directed at, but she was relieved to see something that wasn't seething anger.
Natasha and Steve didn't say anything further. Steve simply picked Ward up like he was a weightless doll and carried him out of the jet. Natasha glanced at them once more before following Steve out silently. Skye somehow felt like she'd missed a very important conversation.
"C'mon girl," encouraged Trip as he nudged Skye towards the door. "Let's go save your boy."
Skye should object- she really should. Ward wasn't her boy; she didn't care about him, she just didn't want him in Hydra hands. But honestly, at this point, she could care less. She just wanted to figure out what was going on with Ward. Right now, nothing else mattered.
Ward was being hooked up in a medical room by the time Skye reached the right floor. The others had broken off with Rogers to go handle Hill with reassurances from Trip that they could explain what was going on and that she didn't need to be there. Skye wasn't really convinced, but she was grateful all the same. It meant one less fight she had to engage in.
Natasha had apparently rushed Ward down on orders from Hill, who was apparently still seething about this. It made Skye wonder what Ward had done to the woman; she didn't think this much hate could come from anything but a personal conflict. Then again, Hill could just be taking the whole betrayal thing as a personal offense.
Walking up to an observation window set in the wall, she silently took in the sight before her. If she hadn't just pulled Ward out of a prison, she might have thought he was sleeping. The man legitimately look like he was taking a nap. It was only that haunting image of watching him get drugged that reminded her otherwise.
"Excuse me, are you Skye?"
Glancing up, Skye met the eyes of a ruffled, older man. Exhaustion clung to his eyes and his face was slightly strained, but otherwise he appeared alert and calm. Weirdly calm when Skye thought about it. He was also looked at her expectantly. Right, he'd asked a question.
"Yeah, I'm Skye," confirmed Skye as she extended her hand.
He waved her hand off with a soothing smile, nodding towards where they were still hooking Ward up to monitors and whatever else was in that room. "I'm Dr. Bruce Banner. Maria said he might need some medical attention. Something about Hydra."
"He was being experimented on by Hydra," confirmed Skye, her eyes falling back to Ward through the observation window. "I'm not really sure what they did to him, though."
"I'm sure we can figure it out," assured Bruce with a smile. He nodded at the file she was still clutching, raising an eyebrow slightly. "May I see that?"
"Uh..." She glanced suspiciously at him, tightening her grip on the folder. She had no reason to distrust this person, but he had no reason to trust him either. And right now she wasn't feeling the most trusting. If he did something to the file, she'd lose her proof and she couldn't risk that right now.
Apparently detecting her reluctance, he dropped his hand and glanced to the ceiling. "Jarvis, can you scan the files Skye is holding into your system please? I believe she would like to keep her copies."
"Of course Dr. Banner," assured a voice from literally out of nowhere.
Skye actually jumped, head snapping around for a moment before the name Jarvis sank in. Right, that was Stark's AI. She remembered the spread about him from 'Tech Wave', a technology magazine that had done a major story on Stark.
"Miss Skye, could you please hold the folders flat?" requested Jarvis in the politest British voice ever.
"Uh, sure," muttered Skye, holding the folders flat in front of her. There was a beep from the ceiling followed by a beam that slid over the top file's cover. It disappeared a second later with a light 'beep'.
"The files have been scanned as requested," stated Jarvis calmly. "Will that be all?"
"Please pull them up on the monitor in the Hulk-proof medical room," requested Bruce, glancing towards where the person who'd been hooking Ward up was finishing. Hulk-proof medical room? Geez, they weren't taking any chances. Then again, Ward was theoretically a super-soldier experiment so that was probably for the best. "I'll need them momentarily."
"Of course Dr. Banner," agreed Jarvis calmly. "Anything else?"
"No, thank you Jarvis," thanked Bruce before he refocused on Skye. "I'm going to help him, Skye."
Nodding slowly, she watched as he turned and stepped into the room with Ward. Unease churned her stomach as she watched him approach the prone man. Letting any doctor or scientist near Ward felt like a betrayal right now. The images from earlier in the night were still too fresh in her mind.
"Don't worry, Banner is a good doctor," assured a voice from behind. Glancing back, Skye found a brunette woman in glasses standing there. The woman didn't look any older than Skye, her hair mused like she'd just rolled out of bed. Then she offered Skye a cup of coffee and Skye honestly stopped caring about anything else for a moment.
She took the cup without question, cradling the warm porcelain like it was precious. Which, well, with her lack of sleep it pretty much was. "I could seriously hug you right now."
"You should probably ask my name first," joked the woman, offering her hand. "Darcy."
"Skye," replied Skye, sipping the coffee as she shook Darcy's hand.
Nodding as if satisfied, Darcy turned to where Bruce was checking some of the machines hooked up to Ward. "Did you really break him out of prison?"
"Yeah," confirmed Skye slowly, her eyes narrowing at Darcy. "How'd you know about that?"
"Hill was shouting about it earlier," explained Darcy with a shrug. "He is really hot."
"He's also a back-stabbing traitor," muttered Skye, downing half her cup of coffee without thought. "He betrayed our team during the whole Hydra reveal thing."
"Seriously?" asked Darcy with a raised eyebrow. "Dude, why did you pull his ass out of jail then?"
"Because Hydra was experimenting on him," stated Skye with a sigh. "Plus, I don't get why he betrayed us, but something tells me we don't have the whole story and I don't like judging people based on false information."
"I hear ya there," muttered Darcy, taking a sip of her own coffee.
"Skye." For what felt like the fifth time that night, Skye found herself turning away from Ward to face someone else demanding her attention. Thankfully she knew the person this time.
Trip looked a little out of breath as he jogged towards her. Apparently, wherever Hill was, it wasn't near by. Not that Skye really expected her office to be around the corner from the medical area.
"Hill demanding an explanation?" asked Skye with a barely restrained sigh as Trip stopped in front of her.
Shaking his head, Trip bent forward to brace his hands just above his knees as he spoke. "No. Well, yes, but that's not what she's worried about. The prison-"
"Hey, this the escaped convict guy?"
Biting back a scream, Skye spun to face this new annoyance and possibly tear into whoever had shown up now. However, Skye's jaw nearly hit the ground as she spotted this new annoyance. Tony Stark, the Tony Stark, stood looking through the observation window at Ward, a half bored expression painted across his face.
"That's him," confirmed Darcy, glancing at Skye as she nodded towards Trip in a way that said 'I'll take care of him, handle this'. Skye could have hugged Darcy for the second time that night.
Turning back to Trip while Darcy distracted Stark, Skye took a deep breath and tried to keep calm. "Okay, what's going on now?"
"It's the prison," huffed Trip, straightening up.
"What about the prison?" asked Skye, ice settling in her stomach.
"The prison is gone."
Skye's head snapped around as Hill's voice cut in from just down the hall. The woman looked pissed. Beyond pissed, if Skye was being honest. Then her words actually sank in. "What do you mean the prison is gone?"
"It's gone Skye." Coulson's voice cut in from behind Skye. Again, her head snapped around (she was going to get whiplash at this rate) to find Coulson staring at her from a wall-mounted monitor with his 'I'm very pissed off with you right now but I'm trying to remain straight-faced about it' look. Crap. What the hell had happened?
The slew of exclamations that followed his appearance, including 'agent!' and 'shit, you're alive!', were pretty much drowned out for Skye. He'd mentioned the Avengers thought he was dead, so she wasn't exactly surprised by their shock. Apparently it wasn't going to lead to any immediately loud outbursts though, which meant they actually would have a chance to talk.
"What do you mean by 'gone'," repeated Skye, her irritation leaking into her voice. They were pissed? They were about to see what pissed actually was. She'd been up for multiple nights now stressing about getting a potential super-soldier away from Hydra. How they expected her to actually understand what they meant without explaining it was beyond her.
"Someone blew it up," filled in Bobbi as she appeared behind Hill looking equally pissed, though her anger was clearly directed at Hill. "And it wasn't us."
"It's true," confirmed May, stepping in from behind Bobbi. Steve was behind her, looking just as pissed as Hill and Coulson. "They had anti-air guns on top of the prison. When I was flying away, I was keeping an eye on the prison. It was still there when I lost sight of it."
"Timers," stated Hill, her eyes narrowed at Skye. "You had the best motive to blow it up."
"We didn't blow it up," growled Skye, her temper snapping. This was fucking ridiculous. Were they seriously going to get blamed for everything at this point? She was so fucking sick of having to defend herself and her actions she was ready to punch someone. Above, the lights buzzed a little louder and started to flicker slightly. "We didn't have explosives. Hydra blew up the prison because they were abandoning it and they didn't want the underground level or any of the stuff they'd been doing there found. And before you start to argue with me about this, it was pretty clear when we were in there that they were abandoning the facility. There were half the guards there should have been present, most of the cells where the Hydra agents I'd been seeing were probably staying where empty, and the whole prison was pretty much abandoned except Cell Block A, where the non-Hydra people were being kept. The signs were all there."
"Plus there was a transport order for Ward in the file," added Bobbi, pulling out a piece of paper and offering it to Hill. The other woman took the paper with an weary glance, almost as if she weren't sure she believed what Bobbi was saying. "I found it in the room with Ward. They gave him a longer lasting sedative so they wouldn't have to dose him during transport. It's why he's still out."
"Wait, seriously?" asked Skye, gaping at Bobbi. "And you didn't think we should know this?"
Bobbi shrugged a little, crossing her arms casually. "I didn't exactly have time to read the note when I found it. Just grabbed it."
Sighing, Hill shook her head and glanced towards Coulson. "She's right."
"Not that we would have blown up the prison anyway," added Skye with a growl. Above, the lights stopped flickering. "Killing people kinda goes against everything I stand for and all that."
Coulson had the good sense to wince slightly at her tone. "We're talking about Ward, Skye. I don't know what you'd do."
Again, Skye felt her temper start to rise. "It's nothing personal, Coulson. I'd just rather Hydra not get their hands on a super-soldier thank you very much."
"Do you have proof he's a super-soldier?" asked Hill with a disbelieving look at Skye.
"Jarvis has copies," spoke up Bruce as he stepped out of the room where Ward was still laying unconscious. "The evidence is there, though to be certain we need to figure out exactly where this man came from."
"He was given to the Ward's when he was four months old by a scientist named Thaddeus Sims," stated Skye, turning towards Bruce as she began to relax a little. Finally, someone else who actually believed her.
A choking sound drew everyone's attention towards the monitor and Coulson. The man had turned very pale at that point, his eyes going wind in apparent shock. He literally looked like he might fall over.
"Sir?!" Simmons' startled shout came across the line before she appeared a second later, helping Coulson to lean against his desk.
"Phil?" asked Hill worriedly, her brow pinching in clear concern. "You alright?"
"Are you sure his name was Thaddeus Sims?" asked Coulson as he reached up to rub his eyes.
"Pretty much," confirmed Skye, her brow furrowing. "The man had connections to the Wards and was working for Hydra. The name on Ward's adoption form was an anagram, but the witness signature was for Cyrus Ward who, as far as I can tell, was either dead or not in the country at the time Ward got put up for adoption. It all makes sense."
"Does that mean something to you, Phil?" asked Hill, stepping up to take control of the situation. "Is there something you know that we don't?"
"Nothing helpful," muttered Coulson, shaking his head before straightening up again. His face shut down once more, though Skye could see markers of stress at the edges. "Are we sure Ward isn't actually a Ward?"
"No," admitted Skye with a sigh, shrugging. "At this point we still aren't sure who he actually is. I couldn't find a birth certificate for a 'Grant Ward' anywhere reasonable, so I'm assuming it's either under another name or doesn't exist."
"That doesn't mean he isn't a Ward though," reminded Trip, piping up as he stepped up beside Skye. "You said it yourself, the grandfather was a friend of this Sims person and that brother went missing. Could have been one of theirs."
"It could have been Sims too, right?" asked Bobbi, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, we don't actually know where he came from."
"Or he could be related to Captain America," added Skye quietly, thinking about the file they'd found and the references to a 'ideal target'. "It looks like Hydra smuggled someone out of Europe at Sims' request. Warld could just as easily be that person as anyone else."
"But we don't know that person was related to Rogers," pointed out Trip, gesturing to the files Skye was still clinging to. "They never said it was someone related to Rogers."
"No, but they cite a woman related to Rogers and then remark about a 'ideal target', which suggests that they found someone matching Sims' specifications," countered Skye with a frown. "It would make sense if the person they smuggled in was related to him."
"That would increase the probability they would achieve the same results," remarked Simmons suddenly, pipping up from where she still stood beside Coulson. Her brow was furrowed, mind clearly moving a million miles a minute. "It would make the most sense."
"Assuming there was a target that would fit that description," reminded Trip, shaking his head. "I mean, seriously, what's the chance they'd find someone maternally related to Rogers?"
"It wouldn't have to be a direct relation," remarked Simmons with a shrug. "It could be a female cousin or second cousin. There would in theory be a better chance of success if they used someone related to the one successful experiment."
"Hey, this dude related to Senator Jackass Ward?" asked Darcy from in front of the observation window.
"Yeah, they're brothers," confirmed Skye, pulling a face as she glanced at Ward before looking back at Darcy. "I think it runs in the family."
"Then we could just run his DNA profile against the Senator's to rule it out," suggested Darcy, drawing all eyes to her as she pulled out her phone. "I mean, there'd be some similarities even if they were like, weird half uncles or something, right?"
"Well, yes," confirmed Simmons, making a face at Darcy's use of the words 'weird half uncles'. "Though technically, Ward would be Senator Ward's step uncle."
"Whatever," dismissed Darcy calmly as she glanced up from her phone. "It doesn't matter. They'd be related and we could see it."
"Yes," repeated Simmons with a sigh. "That's correct. But we would need the Senator's DNA profile to confirm that and I doubt he will be kind enough to submit to a baseless DNA test."
"Who said anything about him submitting to a DNA test?" asked Darcy with a raised eyebrow. "They stuck the DNA of everyone who works in any government building in a database years ago thinking someone would attack. They were particularly careful to get every politician on the Hill and anyone lurking around routinely in the system too, just in case something happened. I figured we could just pull the profile from that database and match 'em."
"But we'd need access to the database," pointed out Trip with a sigh. "And in case you haven't noticed, we don't have legitimate access to that information anymore."
"Dude, who said anything about legit access?" asked Darcy with a disbelieving look. "There are at least two people in this room capable of hacking into multiple alphabet soup agencies. I'm pretty sure we can get access to that database. It's not exactly high-level clearance information here."
Skye eyed the dark-haired woman for a moment, mind immediately clicking the pieces together. There was no way...then again, she had said she was in New York now. And mentioned Thor. It was worth a try. If Darcy really was who Skye thought she was, then they'd be into any database they wanted in no time. "Hey, random question. Have you ever been to Jekyll Island?"
"Born and raised," replied Darcy, glancing at Skye and offering her a knowing smirk. "You?"
The grin that broke across Skye's face probably could have lit a room. Damn, it really was Poli-mole. It had to be, unless there was another Rising Tide member who happened to know Thor. Which, well, that wasn't exactly likely. "Born and raised."
"Uh, Skye, I thought you didn't know where you were from," remarked Trip slowly, eying Skye like she was going to turn around and bite him.
"And Darcy, you're from California," added Jane, eying the other girl wearily. "You've ranted for ages about LA traffic."
"Neither of them are from Jekyll Island," stated Coulson with a shake of his head. "It's a Rising Tide code, I think."
"Bingo, DC," confirmed Skye, still grinning at Darcy. "So, where would those DNA profiles be?"
"Probably FBI or NSA," replied Darcy with a shrug, smirking. "I figured we could just go through the alphabet until we found them."
"Sounds like a party," agreed Skye with a nod. "Let's start with the FBI though. I still have an open backdoor and a false log-in with high-level access."
"You have what?" asked Simmons, eyes going wide like she was somehow surprised by the idea.
Coulson just let out a put upon sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Skye, do I want to know why you've maintained a backdoor into the FBI?"
"Because I'm a hacker?" suggested Skye, glancing up at the video image of her boss with a shrug. "And just because I trust SHIELD now, doesn't mean I trust the rest of the government douche bags. Hell, after everything that's happened, I'm pretty much assuming anyone associated with said government is Hydra unless proven otherwise."
"Pretty safe assumption," agreed Darcy with a firm nod. "Now let's go hack some government cheese."
"I'll bring the laptops if you bring the liquor," agreed Skye, heading towards both Darcy and the door.
"Wait a minute," ordered Tony suddenly, causing both women to halt. "You're going to hack into government agencies until you find the information you want and drink alcohol?"
"Hacking in the NSA isn't fun without a few shots of tequila," explained Darcy with a shrug as she shoved her hands in her jacket pocks. "What, wanna join the party?"
"You listed off my two favorite past times: drinking and hacking into government agencies," stated Tony with a grin, throwing his arms over both girl's shoulders as he lead them out of the room. "Count me in."
Skye was pretty sure Coulson's groan was audible throughout the building.
Hours later, Skye triumphantly burst back into the medical wing, flash drive held high. Every head in the room turned to look at her with varying levels of exhaustion and caution. Hill looked particularly irritated, though the woman was beginning to look more worn down than angry. Steve however looked pretty pissed. At what, Skye couldn't begin to guess. From what she could tell, everyone had been silent before she burst in. Bobbi was standing at the window with Hill, Steve, May and Trip, though she glanced back with the others as soon as Skye burst in. A white lab coat rested on her shoulders and, weird as it was to see the agent in lab gear, it somehow suited her. Maybe the biologist thing wasn't such as far-fetched stretch.
"Skye?" asked Bobbi, prompted more than anything, as she gave Skye a hopeful look. "Any luck?"
Grinning, Skye waved the drive around slightly in show of their success. "We are victorious!"
The blank stares that met her announcement were funny for some reason, nearly sending Skye into a fit of giggles. Huh. Maybe the victory tequila shots had been a bad idea. She felt too good to care though.
"You weren't joking about the alcohol were you?" asked Trip with a slight shake of his head and grin, reaching out and taking the flash drive from her before offering her his arm.
She started to wave off the gesture, but ended up grabbing his arm when the room suddenly tilted. Yeah, victory tequila shots were a bad idea. "Dude, hacking into the NSA without alcohol is boring. And I'm better than Poli- er, Darcy. I think she passed out with Stark in the computer room thing after that last tequila shot."
"I'll go get them," stated Steve with a sigh, pushing away from the wall and heading back the direction Skye had come from. There was strain in his features when he passed, but Skye couldn't tell what from. Then again, it might just be the whole situation in general.
"He alright?" asked Skye as soon as the super-soldier was out of ear shot, glancing at Trip with a raised eyebrow.
Trip shook his head, letting out a relieved sigh. "Trust me Skye, no one is alright right now."
"You can't exactly blame him," remarked a very Jemma-like voice before Jemma herself stepped into view behind Trip. "I mean, he might be related to Ward of all people. You can't expect him to be happy about that."
It took a lot of effort for Skye not to snap at the scientist as her words sank in. She knew Jemma was still mad at Ward and, again, she understood that. It didn't mean she didn't find Jemma's comment irritating and disgusting. Seriously, Jemma was supposed to be the compassionate one among them.
Taking a deep breath, Skye held out the flash drive towards Jemma. "Here's Senator Grabby-Hands' DNA."
"That's two samples down," remarked Bobbi as the other female agent stepped forward and took the drive from Trip. "We just need Sims."
"How are we supposed to get DNA from a scientist who disappeared thirty one years ago anyway?" asked Trip, raising an eyebrow at Skye. "Unless you happened to find something in the FBI file of yours."
"Use mine."
Skye flopped her head backwards to glance over her shoulder, Trip's arm shifting as she did to keep her from falling over. She'd need to thank him for that later. And possibly reassure Jemma there was nothing going on. Or maybe May. She should probably figure out which.
Coulson stood behind her and Trip, guilt and clear unease present on his face. A blond man stood behind him, one hand reassuringly resting on his shoulder. Huh, the blond guy was actually kind of cute. She should ask Darcy who he is. At minimum he had amazing arms, like a swimmer or an arch- oh. Right, Hawkeye, the Avenger's bow dude. Yeah, that would actually make sense. The guy had been a SHIELD agent before he was an Avenger after all.
"Director Coulson?" questioned Jemma, her voice and its confusion breaking through Skye's random mental tangent. She blinked once, hard, and found Coulson staring at her when she reopened her eyes, his gaze equal parts sad and disturbed.
"Use mine," repeated Coulson, looking away from Skye to glance at someone behind her- probably Jemma if she had to guess.
"We kinda need Sims' DNA here, DC," remarked Skye, using Trip's shoulder to right herself and step away. She really didn't want to see jealous Jemma make an appearance and she wasn't sure what May's jealous side looked like but it probably wasn't good. Not leaning on Trip was definitely going to be the safest move for her. Well, if she didn't fall into a wall that is.
Focusing on Coulson, Skye tilted her head slightly and tried her best not to lose her balance as she addressed her former boss. "I'm not getting how your DNA would h-" The look Coulson shot her was enough to immediately silence her. It was his 'the answer to your question is definitely the most obvious one' look and wow. Okay, that was something Skye never, ever would have suspected. "Oh."
"Yes," agreed Coulson with a sigh, giving her that unhappy look. "Oh."
"Wait, seriously?" asked Skye suddenly, shaking her head firmly. Coulson, the guy who worshiped Captain America, was related to Sims of all people? That couldn't be right. "I mean, how? Was he like your kooky black-sheep uncle or something?"
Coulson looked away then, reaching up to run one hand over his thinning hair. "No, he wasn't my uncle."
"Your brother?" asked Jemma with something that sounded almost like desperation but wasn't quite strong enough for that. "Or a cousin perhaps?"
"He was my father," stated Coulson, the words bitter. The hand that had been running over his hair fell to his side, clenching into a fist. "Yes, I'm related to a mad scientist who specialized in super-soldiers and genetic modifications. No, I was never one of his experiments. He never raised me and I never spent time with him as a child. I only know about him because my mother told me about him when I was ten."
"Wow," muttered Skye, blinking hard at Coulson. Suddenly, his earlier aversion to discussing Ward possibly made a lot more sense. She couldn't remember if she'd mentioned Sims or not, but she couldn't imagine Coulson would exactly want to discuss his apparently estranged father.
"Not sure wow is a strong enough response to that one," muttered Trip, blinking at Coulson like he couldn't believe what he'd just heard.
Honestly, Skye couldn't either. But she doubted Coulson would say it if it weren't true. He sounded almost ashamed of what his father had done. Then again, Skye would be ashamed too if she were in his shoes. His father had experimented on kids and worked for Hydra, the worst of the worst. On top of that, he was being forced to face one of his father's potential experiments. A potential experiment who'd also been a member of his team and betrayed them for a loony guy working for Hydra. That had to be disturbing. Suddenly, she had a lot more respect for her former boss.
"I'd rather no one respond," stated Coulson, as if people dropped these kinds of bombshells every day. "There's nothing to respond to. You can use my DNA to see if Ward is related to me. If he is, it's through my father."
"You don't sound like you'd be surprised if Ward was related to you," remarked Bobbi, tilting her head a little. "Something we should know Coulson?"
"Nothing relevant to anyone in this room," countered Coulson, his lips thinning as he pressed them together. "Now, are you going to use my DNA or not?"
"It's kinda our only option," pointed out Bobbi, nodding slowly as the shocked look that had graced her face began to fade. "We'll get a sample of blood and start processing your DNA now. It'll be a few hours at least before we're able to actually run anything, though."
"Dr. Banner says he has a process that easily halves the amount of time it takes to actually obtain a DNA map," added Jemma, her voice almost star-struck. Her excitement was clear, almost to the point of being amusing. "We might have something by morning if we start now."
"Then lets get going," stated Bobbi, opening the door to the medical room next to Ward's and gesturing for Coulson to head in. "We'll draw your blood and get everything going."
"Looks like it's a waiting game now," remarked Trip as Coulson silently entered the room with Bobbi. Simmons was close behind, still looking giddy like a school child. "We should probably get some sleep. Not like there's anything to do at this point."
Skye nodded slightly, glancing back at Trip. May stood a little behind him, exhaustion present on her face and Hill looked equally tired. God, if they looked like that, she must look terrible. Still, she'd sleep a little better knowing Ward was safe, at least for now. "Yeah, sleep would probably be good. May looks kinda ready to fall over."
"You look worse," stated May, though there was a touch of amusement in her eyes.
"I feel like I haven't slept in two weeks," admitted Skye which, well, she kinda hadn't. At least, not well. Sure, she'd slept, but it had mostly been nightmare filled sleep that wasn't particularly restful. It had also been limited to about two to four hours a night.
Shaking her head a bit, May reached out and turned Skye towards the elevators. "Come on, Skye. Let's get some sleep. Hill was nice enough to find rooms we can use while we're here."
"It wasn't exactly hard," remarked Hill as she stepped towards the elevators, motioning for them to follow. "Stark has more rooms than he'll ever need."
"It's Stark," pointed out May with a shake of her head as she stepped around Skye to keep pace with Hill. "When does the man not over-do it?"
"C'mon Skye," insisted Trip with a chuckle, swinging his arm around her shoulders and propelling her forward. "Ward will still be here tomorrow."
"Now he will," agreed Skye with a yawn, glancing ahead at the two women walking in front of them. With Ward safely guarded and kept for the moment, she could turn her mind onto other things. Important things. "So, Trip, Simmons and May..."
Stumbling into the hall, Skye tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. Three hours of sleep was not enough to make up for the lack she'd been suffering through, but an hour of tossing and turning had proven she wasn't going to sleep again. Apparently, even having Ward safely at Stark Tower wasn't enough to make her brain settle down. Which is how she found herself looking through the observation window into the room where Ward still lay, unconscious.
Part of her wanted to sit with him but another part was pushing her to keep her distance. Whatever had happened to Ward in the past didn't excuse what he'd done. The part where he up and disappeared when he was 15, the sketchy documents she'd found that showed he was probably abused, none of it was an excuse for what he'd done. It's what she wanted to believe, but she knew that wasn't that simple.
No, his history wasn't an excuse, but it could definitely be a cause. When abuse was involved, nothing was ever black and white. The psychological damage alone was unpredictable and, since she couldn't figure out exactly what had happened to him, it was hard to say what the overall impact on his personality and psyche were. The only way to figure everything out, to understand why he'd followed Garrett and betrayed them all, was to actually talk with him about it. Something weird was going on, that much was clear. And if Skye wanted to understand what it was, then she'd need to talk with him.
And she did want to understand; the part of her that she'd spent the past few months denying was chomping at the bit to understand why Ward had done what he had. It was the same part that had driven her to hunt for her parents, to question everything she was told for most of her life. If she'd let that part of her push for answers months ago instead of forcing it into a box, they might have been able to stop this before it started. As things stood, she'd failed Ward and SHIELD by not asking the questions she should have sooner. Who knew what Hydra had managed to learn because she hadn't figured out their game earlier on? She was the one who asked questions; it was her job, her place in this world, to push for answers other people didn't want to hear. She wasn't going to fail again.
"He looks peaceful." Coulson's voice nearly sent Skye jumping out of her skin. As it was, she ended up jumping backwards and flailing slightly as she grabbed for the faint edge around the observation window. A hand caught her arm, helping steady her as she regained her footing. Okay, sleep? That was definitely high on her list of things to get. She should not jump like that. Then again, she might still be a little drunk- there had been a lot of tequila involved earlier.
Coulson's grip on her arm tightened a little as he helped her steady herself before carefully releasing her arm. The look he sent her was full of concern, clearly as unnerved by her show of gracelessness as she probably would be if he'd done the same. Then again, she wasn't exactly graceful all the time.
"I thought you were sleeping," remarked Coulson, stepping back a little as his eyes slid carefully over her. "You still look exhausted."
"Yeah, well, one night of sleep isn't gonna make up for a week of no sleep," replied Skye, shaking her head a bit as she glanced back into the room where Ward was. "Probably not gonna sleep until he wakes up, honestly."
"You're really concerned for him." Coulson's voice was tense, his back rigid as he stepped up beside Skye.
"You didn't watch him get dragged out of a cell by a bunch of Hydra goons," countered Skye quietly, her arms crossing her chest as she watched Ward sleep. "You haven't spent two weeks trying to figure out what the hell was going on in that prison."
Nodding once, slowly, Coulson reached out to lay his arm against the wall beside the observation window, resting his weight on his elbow. "No, I haven't, and if I'd kept my anger in check than you wouldn't have needed to."
"DC?" asked Skye, turning so she could look straight at Coulson.
"This is my fault," explained Coulson with a sigh. "I let my anger get the better of me and ruined someone's life in the process."
Shaking her head slowly, she tried to make sense of what Coulson was saying. Nothing really clicked though. Maybe he meant the prison? "Look, if it's about the prison he was put in, you didn't exactly know it was a Hydra base. I mean, none of us did. You can't blame yourself for putting Ward somewhere you thought he couldn't get out of."
"It's got nothing to do with the prison," stated Coulson quietly, his eyes still locked on Ward. "It has to do with me turning him away."
-31 years ago, Boston, Mass-
The knocking surprised Phil a little as he glanced up from his copy of the SHIELD weapons handbook. Outside, the snow fell in thick layers, coating the ground. It was freezing outside and almost midnight- who the hell was knocking on their door?
Setting his book aside, Phil pulled himself off the couch and headed for the door. His mother and Brett would have mentioned if they were expecting company and it really was too late for anyone to be visiting. The idea it could be Fury or John momentarily crossed Phil's mind, but he dismissed the idea just as quickly. Neither man had a reason to visit him while he was on leave. Besides, John was (theoretically) back in Texas stirring up trouble there.
Without checking the peep hole, he pulled the door open, unsure what to expect. He half hoped it was one of his academy friends stopping by unannounced. He'd told Melinda she was free to swing by if she ended up in Massachusetts and needed to escape her mom and said the same thing to Jasper. Most likely it was one of them. At least, he prayed it was one of them and not something a lot worse.
Whatever he'd been expecting, it definitely wasn't the man standing on his parent's doorstep. In fact, he wanted to slam the door in the man's face. How dare his Thaddeus show up at his mother's house? His biological father had no place anywhere near his mother.
"What the hell do you want?" growled Phil, his hand tightening on the wood of the door frame as he blocked access to the house with his body.
"Hello Phillip," greeted Thaddeus with a nod, attempting to peer around Phil. "Is your mother in? I'm afraid it's very important."
"She's out with Brett for the weekend," stated Phil, his shoulders tensing as he spotted a pile of cloth in the man's arms. "Why?"
"I'm afraid I need her assistance," explained Thaddeus with a put-upon sigh. One of his hands rose to move aside some of the fabric, revealing the face of a very young child. "I need this child to vanish and I thought-"
"No," snarled Phil, eyes narrowing at the man he would never agree to call father. "You are not getting mom mixed up in your crazy research and you are not dropping some-" Phil's arm flailed slightly as he gestured to the child his father was cradling so carefully, "-some experiment or love child on her. She's not your assistant or your girlfriend or anyone you can expect to just unload your problems on."
"Phillip, this is not-" started Thaddeus, though Phil cut him off.
"No," repeated Phil, drawing himself up to his full height as he glared down at Thaddeus. "You are not dropping that kid on mom. I don't care who or what he or she is, you are not putting that responsibility on mom. Not again, not for some random kid."
"He isn't random, he's-" started Thaddeus again, only for Phil to cut him off, again.
"I don't care who he is or what he is, take him somewhere else," growled Phil loudly, stepping back towards the house. "Now get the hell out of here before I call the police and take that baby with you."
With that, Phil slammed the door in Thaddeus' face, anger thrumming through his veins. The fact that his father would show up at his mother's house was pissing Phil off enough, but to show up with a kid and expecting her to care for it? That was beyond inappropriate. It made Phil mad enough to want to punch something. His mother would have done it, too. She would have taken one look at that baby and taken it in, regardless of where it came from. Phil wouldn't let that happen though. Thaddeus had put his mother through enough hell when he'd been a baby; he wasn't going to let the man continue to haunt his family. And he sure as hell wasn't going to let Thaddeus leave some experiment or love child in his mother's care. That would happen over his dead body.
-Present Day-
"I turned Ward away as a baby," explained Coulson quietly, his eyes locked on the man in question. "If I hadn't, maybe I could have saved us all the pain of his betrayal."
Disbelief warred with sadness as Skye tried to process what Coulson had said. Of course, he couldn't be sure that Ward was that baby- even Skye was still not one hundred percent sure that Ward had been in Sims' custody. But even if Ward wasn't the baby, she could understand Coulson's guilt. He'd probably never considered what happened to the baby that had been in his father's care that night. And if it was Ward, then Coulson was another on the list of people who'd thrown him away.
"How old were you, AC?" asked Skye quietly, eyes glancing towards Ward to ensure he was still sleeping peacefully before she refocused on Coulson.
"Nineteen," replied Coulson with a sigh. "Old enough to know better."
"But still young enough to be pissed at your father," pointed out Skye quietly. One of her hands rose to rest on his shoulder, drawing her boss's attention to her. "Look AC, I get the whole 'feeling abandoned and being pissed about it' thing. I've been there. And when you're pissed like that, you don't always think straight." Shaking her head slightly, she looked back towards Ward. "I've never been in your shoes, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have reacted any better."
"You would have," stated Coulson quietly, shaking his head slightly. "You have a compassion and heart the rest of us lost long ago. You pushed for answers with Ward even after he betrayed us because you knew it was the right thing to do. You always questioned everything before and I did you a disservice by not listening when you came to me with answers you didn't like and asked for help." Looking back at Ward, he pressed his lips together quietly. "Whatever happens, he'll need help adjusting."
"What, you're not throwing him in prison again?" asked Skye, her head snapping towards Coulson with furrowed brows. "I would have thought you'd toss him back once this mess was cleared up."
"I don't know where I'd send him," admitted Coulson with a sigh. "If he is a super-soldier, we can't risk him falling back into Hydra's hands and a normal prison can't hold him safely. If he is related to Steve, we have the same issue. If he actually is a Ward, we might be able to just lock him up again, but I doubt Hydra would go through this much effort if they didn't have some evidence he'd been experimented on. Plus, as you've pointed out, we don't know what was done to him."
Nodding slowly, Skye bit her lip slightly before looking at Coulson again. "And if he's your brother?"
The way Coulson stiffened was expected, but the way his eyes softened wasn't. "If he's my brother, then I'll work with him to find out what happened. I will help him get better."
"You think he can be good?" asked Skye, cocking a disbelieving eyebrow at Coulson.
"I have no clue," admitted Coulson quietly, his gaze locking with Skye's. "I'm going to defer to you on that one. At this point, you know more than any of us about Ward and his history. Whatever you think we should do, it's what I'll recommend."
Gulping slightly, Skye looked back at Ward for a long moment. Truthfully? She knew absolutely nothing and wouldn't until she had a chance to talk with Ward. His history had been cleansed- only he would have the answers they were looking for. "His history was cleansed and we're about to turn his world upside down. I'm not sure what that will do to him."
"No one does," assured Coulson quietly, his hand landing softly on Skye's shoulder. "But he has at least on person on his side. You've been asking all the questions, so you deserve to get your answers."
"They're not my answers," stated Skye quietly, watching as Ward turned his head in his sleep, his hands shifting slightly. For half a second, she thought he was going to wake up then an there. However, he settled down again pretty quickly. "The answers are Ward's." Glancing up at Coulson again, she made sure to hold his gaze as she explained. "They're for him, so he knows the truth, and for us, so we know what he can do. After all this deception, he deserves the truth as much as we do."
One of Coulson's eyebrows rose in clear uncertainty. "You don't think he knows about any of this?"
"You think he does?" countered Skye with her own raised eyebrow. "Somehow, I really doubt he knows he's adopted or that he was possibly experimented on as a kid. Even I had to dig pretty deep to figure that part out. Somehow, I'm pretty sure Hydra scientists are the only ones who know besides us and I highly doubt they bothered to tell Ward."
"Point," admitted Coulson with a sigh. Shaking his head, he gently clapped her shoulder before turning down the hall. "It's late and I'm going to try to get some sleep. You should too, Skye. The door to his room is unlocked."
Blinking, Skye watched Coulson disappear down the hall, her mind stuck on trying to figure out how he knew what she'd been thinking. She was distracted a moment later when she spotted Hawkeye standing at the end of the hall. She watched in shock as the blond man pit his arm around Coulson's shoulder and the two men walked away in silence. It could be nothing, but somehow Skye doubted that. Was everyone but her seriously getting laid?
Shaking her head once, Skye stepped into the medical room with Ward and dropped into the seat beside his bed. She wasn't sure where the chair had actually come from, but she suspected Coulson was to blame. The man was more aware than anyone Skye had ever met, to the point where someone could tell her that Coulson was telepathic and she'd believe it.
Leaning forward, Skye lay her arms carefully on the bed beside Ward in such a way that he couldn't grab her. She rested her head on her arms, eyes locked on his face as she sat there. Her eyes were beginning to droop and she just knew she was going to fall asleep again soon. It should have been unsettling to be in the room with Ward, but something about it seemed to be soothing whatever part of her was still on high alert from earlier. Letting her eyes slide shut, Skye drifted into sleep again, her mind abandoning her need for answers in that exact moment. She would get them soon enough.
A violent shout woke Skye, sending her shooting up and out of her seat. She hit the ground hard, groaning as the medical bed she had been sleeping beside half a second ago shook. Well, Ward was awake.
Pushing herself up off the floor, Skye grabbed Ward's hand gently, trying to catch his attention. His head snapped towards her violently, eyes vicious and panicked as they met hers. It was a look she'd never seen in the man's eyes before and she damn well hoped she never did again.
"Easy Robot," stated Skye in as calm a voice she could manage given Ward looked ready to yank someone's arms off. She hadn't been this nervous for him since he got possessed by the Beserker staff. "You're safe. Hydra can't touch you here."
It took a moment before he seemed to finally register she was kneeling there beside him. He tried to raise one of his hands, though the cuff around his wrist stopped him from even raising his arm fully. His eyes fell to the cuff and, for a moment she could see the rage coming back full force, like some uncontrolled monster rising to the surface. She was quick to squeeze his hand again, drawing his eyes back to her.
"Easy, the cuff was to keep you from hurting yourself or anyone else," stated Skye gently, her thumb brushing against his knuckles as she hoisted herself up to sit on the edge of the bed beside him. "We weren't sure how you were going to be when you woke up."
"Tell me something only you'd know," demanded Ward, his eyes desperate as they met hers again.
Skye almost bulked a bit, mind scrambling to come up with some reason why Ward would ask something like that while trying to think of something only she would know about him. "Uh, you suck at Battleship." She winced almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Talk about a shitty example; his crappy Battleship skills were the last thing he needed to be reminded of right now.
Still, the relief that filled his eyes was almost palpable. "Skye, it's really you."
"Yeah?" replied Skye uncertainly. "Who else would it be?"
Ward ignored her words though, instead opting to try to sit up. Of course, the restraints stopped him. Without a word, Skye activated the controls that adjusted the bed and allowed him to sit up without her undoing the restraints. If the fact he was restrained bothered him or not, she couldn't tell.
"How did I get here?" asked Ward quietly, his eyes locked on her. Confusion and relief battled for dominance in his gaze along with a mistrust that would have hurt if it weren't so expected.
"We broke you out," replied Skye quietly, her eyes dropping away. This wasn't personal. She hadn't saved him because she wanted to- she did it because she didn't want Hydra to win. "I saw what they were doing to you and went to some of the others. They helped me break you out."
"After what I did?" asked Ward quietly, his surprise evident in his voice. "Why?"
This was the question Skye had been dreading. Simmons and Bobbi were running the last of the tests now, but she didn't know when they'd have anything concrete. Still, this could be the best time for her to figure out what exactly Ward already knew. Maybe someone told him everything at some point and he could answer their questions without the tests. Well, they'd need the tests to confirm what he said, but it would give them some sense of priority.
"War- er, Grant," started Skye, switching from his last name to his first. It felt wrong to use the name 'Ward' when there was a good chance he might not even be related to the family at all. He gave her a weird look as she back peddled, but didn't say anything all the same, just kept looking at her expectantly. "Are you aware, uh, I mean did you know-" Wow, this was going amazingly well. Screw it. "Did you know you're adopted?"
The confused, blinking stare that he gave her said no, he definitely didn't know he was adopted. Not that it was really a surprise- she hadn't exactly expected him to know. Maybe one of his siblings had told him that, but siblings did that if TV was in any way accurate, so he probably hadn't believed them.
It took a moment, but he finally managed to pull a sentence together, his voice shaking slightly as he spoke. "Skye that's- it's not possible. I mean, I'm a Ward. My parents are Wards and my grandparents were Wards and-"
"Grant," murmured Skye, squeezing the hand closest to her to make sure he was actually paying attention to her. She met his eyes as she spoke; he needed to know she was dead serious. "I've seen the papers. You have a social services folder that includes an adoption record."
Ward's eyes closed tight, his head shaking in complete disbelief. Skye had known this wouldn't be an easy thing for him to hear, but he looked almost like he wanted to either bolt or curl into a ball. And she knew the worst was still to come.
"No," whispered Ward, taking a deep breath. "You're wrong Skye, you have to be. They didn't- my parents didn't want me. I knew that growing up. I couldn't do anything right and they made sure I knew it. I was a screw up, period. I wasn't capable of upholding the family image. They wouldn't have kept me if I wasn't their kid. It would be scandalous," his voice switched to a bitter falsetto momentarily, clearly mocking his mother, "to give up their own blood, but they wouldn't have bothered to hide it if I'd been adopted to begin with. It would explain why I was such a screw up."
Standing, Skye went to the monitor hanging on the wall and tapped at the screen. It was hard to say if Ward was just in denial or if he actually didn't believe he was adopted, but it wasn't going to help him get through this any better. She needed to prove it to him.
"Do you require assistance Miss Skye?" asked Jarvis from above. She heard Ward jump behind her along with a uttered 'what the hell?'. Right, he didn't know where he was, did he.
"It's just Jarvis, Grant," assured Skye, turning back towards him with a reassuring smile. "Stark's AI. He's wired into the building."
"Hello Mr. Ward," greeted Jarvis politely, oblivious to Ward's shutter.
"Grant," spoke up Ward, voice tense. "Just Grant. Please."
"Very well, Grant," agreed Jarvis. "Was there something I could assist you with?"
"I need the monitor," stated Skye simply, producing the flash drive hanging around her neck. "There's some stuff on this drive I need to access."
"I can assist you, Miss Skye," assured Jarvis. "You will find a USB slot on the side of the monitor. If you would kindly insert your drive, I will be happy to display any file on the drive which you would like accessed."
Nodding, Skye tilted her head to the side of the monitor and plugged the drive into the port as directed. "I need you to pull up the files 'Ward underscore Grant', 'Ward underscore Arthur', 'Ward underscore Andrew', and 'FBI underscore Cyrus underscore Ward'. Is the monitor a touch screen?"
"Of course, Miss Skye," confirmed Jarvis as the files flashed up on screen. "I have taken the liberty of converting the files to a format that will allow for quick perusal. Please, let me know if you require further assistance."
"Uh, thanks Jarvis," replied Skye uneasily, tapping the file marked 'Ward_Grant' and blinking as it opened like a book. Huh. Apparently Jarvis was smarter than she'd anticipated. Finding the adoption page, she zoomed in so Ward could see it clearly and looked back at her former SO.
His eyes were glued to the screen, his breathing upset as he stared at the page. The distress was clear as he read the page and he was shaking after a minute. "That can't be real."
"It is," whispered Skye, moving away from the screen to sit beside him again. "Grant, I'm sorry."
"This makes no sense," muttered Ward, his eyes turning to Skye like she might have the answers. "Why would they keep me? If they didn't want me then why the hell didn't they just give me up? It would have been better than being stuck with them."
"I think they were blackmailed into it," explained Skye quietly, her hand covering his again. "I found evidence that Cyrus Ward, your adoptive grandfather, was involved with the man who put you up for adoption."
"Then who am I?" asked Ward quietly, his eyes searching hers desperately. "If I'm not a Ward then who am I and where did I come from?"
"We're working on figuring that out," stated Coulson as he stepped into the room. Skye blinked in surprise as she turned to look at her former boss, who didn't hesitate to take the chair she'd previously been occupying. He leveled an even, calm look at Ward, though Skye could see the tension in his eyes. "Skye managed to identify three families she suspects you might be a member of. We're running DNA comparisons now."
"Three?" repeated Ward quietly, his eyes shifting from Coulson to Skye questioningly. "But you said the name of the person who put me up for adoption was in the record."
"The record was falsified," stated Skye quietly, her fingers squeezing his. "The name on the adoption papers isn't real as far as I can tell, but names I got through an anagram generator did get a positive hit. The person who makes the most sense is a guy named Thaddeus Sims." She paused her to glance at Coulson, unsure what he was comfortable with her saying. She would hope he'd be willing to open up to Ward at least a little bit after their conversation earlier, but she wasn't sure he was up to having a civilized conversation with her ex-SO at the moment.
"Sims showed up at my mother's house around the same time you were adopted," picked up Coulson, his eyes remaining locked on Ward. "He was trying to get her to take an infant off his hands, but he ended up speaking with me instead and I sent him away with the child."
"Why would he show up at your house, Coulson?" asked Ward, brow drawn into a confused furrow.
Sighing, Coulson grimaced slightly as he forced the next words out. "I'm his son and he thought my mother would still do him a favor even after learning what a monster he was."
"We think you were the infant," explained Skye quietly, picking up for Coulson. "We think he gave you to the Wards because he couldn't leave you with Coulson's mom and he could force the Ward's to take you somehow. The witness and adopter signatures were forged by the same person, presumably Sims, reinforcing the idea the adoption wasn't consented to."
"Sims probably blackmailed him," explained Ward quietly, closing his eyes with a sigh. "He's a politician. Something like his dad being involved with criminals would ruin his image. All Sims had to do was threaten to reveal that his dad worked with or was a criminal and his political career was over."
"That's something he would do," confirmed Coulson quietly, his lips thinning. "He would have tried to guilt my mother if I'd given him the chance to talk with her." However, by the way Coulson's eyes softened, Skye could tell he regretted not taking Ward in. Or at least not considering it more when Sims had shown up.
Nodding quietly, Ward took a deep breath and turned his eyes back onto Skye. "So, three families?"
"Yeah," confirmed Skye, taking a deep breath as their conversation got back on track. It was for the best anyway; Ward needed to be prepared for what they might find out later. "It's possible you are a Ward though, either as Cyrus' son or as Arthur's." Her heart fell a little at the slightly horrified look that crossed Ward's face; then again, she wouldn't want to hear that her dad might be a psychopath either. "But you could also be related to Sims, since Sims was the person who left you with the Wards."
"You can't rule him out," muttered Ward quietly, his fingers tightening as his lips thinned. Obviously, this wasn't exactly better news. "Who's the third?"
Biting her lip slightly, Skye tightened her hold minutely on Ward's hand. "There's evidence Hydra smuggled someone out of the USSR on Sims' request for an experiment. Someone who might be related to Steve Rogers."
The way Ward paled, eyes widening in horrified disbelief, was more of a surprise than anything Skye had seen him do so far. Steve was easily the best person on that list to be related to; why did Ward look so horrified by the idea?
"Grant?" asked Coulson wearily, shooting Skye a concerned look before he gently touched the man's shoulder.
Closing his eyes, Ward swallowed hard, laying his head back against the bed. "So my options are a Ward, a crazy scientist who worked for Hydra, or Steve fucking Rogers, the literal embodiment of America and the guy who took down Hydra?"
"Or possibly none of the above," admitted Skye, her fingers brushing gently against his knuckles. "We don't know yet. That's why we're comparing your DNA to theirs."
"Theirs?" asked Ward, opening his eyes again to give Skye a questioning look. "How the hell did you get someone in the Ward family's DNA?"
"Darcy and I hacked the NSA," replied Skye with a shrug. "Stark and tequila were involved. It was fun." The blank, almost confused look Ward sent her said he didn't understand one bit. Offering him a faint smile, she elaborated. "Darcy is a Rising Tide member named Poli-mole who tracks a lot of political activity on the Hill. She knew most members of Congress had their DNA profiles stashed by the NSA in case of a disaster or attack. We stole the copy of Senator Christian Ward's profile from there."
"God, I hope that test is negative," muttered Ward, shaking his head slightly. "Anything is better than being related to Maynard."
"Maynard," repeated Skye, nodding slightly. "You said he was the brother who used to make you pick on your younger brother."
"Tomas was mother's favorite," explained Ward quietly, his eyes going distant. "She protected him and Emma from everything, including father. She didn't protect us, though. We got the full brunt of his anger. She never bothered to protect Maynard and I. I think that's why Maynard took it out on Thomas and made me do the same."
"How did he make you pick on your brother?" asked Coulson, disbelief coloring his eyes even as his voice remained even. Skye had to admit that she'd been questioning that statement; she wasn't sure how Maynard could have ever forced his brother into doing anything.
"Maynard has a way to twisting things around until you don't know which way is up," explained Ward, eyes locking onto some spot Skye couldn't pinpoint. "He convinced me that Thomas was the issue at one point- that without him, mother would love us. It wasn't until Maynard threw him into the well that I finally realized what he was doing. Until then, I let Maynard tell me what to do. Watching Thomas struggle to stand though, to breathe, I- I got so angry..."
"You stopped listening to Maynard," stated Skye quietly as everything began to solidify. She'd seen that more than once in the orphanage. It mostly happened among the boys and largely with those who'd come from a bad background. They'd establish a hierarchy and the stronger boys would push the weaker ones around. The nuns always put a stop to it fast when they caught it, but there were more than a few who managed to slip by.
"I started questioning him," corrected Ward, eyes turning to the ceiling. "Then pushing back. He got me sent to boot camp for that by lying to our parents. When I got a panicked call from Emma asking for help because she was afraid Maynard was going to kill Thomas I just- I broke out of the camp, stole a car, and drove home. I tried to burn the house down with Maynard inside. It- I couldn't stop him and I knew it."
"So you tried to kill him to protect Thomas," stated Skye, wincing. She could see why he would think that was the only way. Desperation could lead people to do a lot of stupid things and it sounded like his brother had made him pretty desperate.
"If I couldn't be the child my parents wanted, I was going to at least be the brother Thomas and Emma deserved," muttered Ward as his head finally turned so he could meet Skye's eyes. "I wanted them to be safe and I couldn't even do that right."
Squeezing his hand, Skye released his fingers and undid the binding around one of his wrists. He was under guard and at this point she doubted he'd be running. Plus, well, they'd stuck him in a room built to hold the Hulk. He wasn't going to escape.
"Skye," began Coulson wearily, eying Ward as Skye reached across and released his other wrist.
"DC, this room was built for the Hulk," reminded Skye as she returned to her seat on the edge of the bed. "Besides, the Avengers live here and we're in the heart of Hill's new SHIELD-like operation. Where is he really gonna go?"
"Avengers?" repeated Ward, his brow furrowing as he rubbed at his wrists. "Where are we?"
"May brought us to Stark Tower after we broke you out," explained Skye with a shrug. "There's not really a lot of places we could go and she somehow convinced Hill to let us stay here."
"Really?" asked Ward in surprise. "God, after that bull I said to Hill, I'm surprised she let me within five feet of her."
"I'm relatively sure she was attempting to prevent you from ending up in Hydra's hands again," stated Coulson simply. He pressed his lips together firmly for a moment before standing again. "I'm going to see where Simmons and Bobbi are at with the results. If we're lucky, Dr. Banner's method of rapid DNA analysis worked and they've begun running comparisons."
"Actually, we just finished," stated Jemma as she pushed the door to the room open with a stack of papers in hand. "Dr. Banner's process is quite amazing. The applications alone once he completes the patent process and begins to market the idea-"
"Jemma," spoke up Skye, cutting off the scientist before she could begin to rant. Normally, she wouldn't care if Jemma went off on a scientific tangent, but right now they had far more important things to be concerned with. Things such as Ward and his unknown genetic ancestry. "The results?"
"Right," stated Jemma with a sigh, nervously glancing at Ward. He just stared back at her, blank faced and resigned. Without thinking about it, Skye reached out and grabbed one of his hands again, squeezing his fingers softly in support. "Ward, after running the comparisons we found..."
So there is a sequel that's going up immediately after this story! It's called Unraveling the Truth Takes Many Hands. The reason for splitting this as I did is directly related to a shift in POV that was necessary to continue this story the way I wanted to. Sorry about that.