….

Ward's vision was swimming. He could see a world of moving colours, white, grey and black but his brain refused to process anything.

His fingers tingled slightly. He was moving. Dragged actually, as Ward forced his brain awake. Hands under his arms were pulling him across the metal linoleum floor. Echoes rang clearer in his head, sounds of heavy boots connecting close to his head.

Damn. His vision was not cooperating.

Ward steeled his mind, forcing his sight to focus and it did. A little too quickly. Ward blinked twice while his mind began to formulate plans. He was being dragged, right. Down a hallway it seemed, pretty obvious since he could see the blinding lights of the ceiling entering and exiting his sight one by one.

He couldn't move his body, suggesting he has either been drugged or punched so hard he blacked out, neither reassuring.

The movement came to an abrupt halt, and a few continuous beeps sounded. Ward's ears immediately picked up of the tune. An electronic lock. And that special tune that S.H.I.E.L.D. used. They were still in the HUB.

That single fact gave him confidence. A familiar ground was an advantage not easily available in battle, and hell this was battle. Drugging Agent Ward only had two results, a concussion or a black eye lasting a month.

Ward's brain was momentarily sent into chaos when his entire large frame was lifted off the ground and thrown. Quite literally, thrown across the room, hitting something hard with a loud thud.

Thankfully his instincts kicked in just in time, twisting his body such that the impact landed on his back instead of his face.

'My apologies for that, just wanted to ensure you were still unable to move very well. I read your file. You don't go down easy, do you? Pity. Would have loved a little resistance from my victims but you? Oh, I wouldn't risk it.'

Ward slammed his hand hard, snapping his senses out of a state of shock, instantly scanning his surroundings.

A meeting room.

He was lying of the wooden, no ivory table. No normal wood could support his weight after a fall of that magnitude.

His black eyes darted about the room, before finally coming to rest on the perpetrator, the man who actually reduced Agent Ward to nothing but a piece of unmoving muscle.

Ward narrowed his eyes at the man, it felt strangely familiar. Where has he seen this man before?

The scarred man chuckled.

'You seem confused, Agent Grant Ward. You must have met my brother.' He stepped up, directly under the bright ceiling lights, letting Ward look at his face in clear.

Instantly, everything clicked. Ward's brain was racing, like an engine rattling out of control, but the single statement was loud and clear in his mind.

This man is Ray's brother. His instincts immediately kicked in, scanning the large man for potential threats while his mind was still preoccupied with the new piece of information.

'No need to look at me like that, Agent Ward. I don't have anything on me.' The scar wrinkled as the man smiled, showing a row of yellow teeth. 'After all, I'm finally up against the famous Special Agent Grant Ward. Wouldn't want to leave a bad impression now, would I?'

Ward nervously bit his lower lip. He was at a disadvantage.

At full strength, he could be quite a match for anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D., but drugged, confused and in a room full of cameras, he couldn't make any rash decisions. His team was already under scrutiny of allowing a fugitive to escape from right under their noses, and if he added 'Un-authorised Violence' and 'Breach of Protocol' to the list, he might as well kiss his job good-bye.

And Coulson would have his ass too. Too many risks to take, but something told Ward that this scarred man knew about Skye. Call it his sixth sense but in all things related to Skye, Ward was a physic.

A shadow flew at him, giving him just a split second to raise his arm before something with the force of a truck came barrelling at him, smashing him into the cold marble floor. Brown eyes managed to catch on to the fist in the dim lighting and his legs quickly pushed his stunned torso out of the line of fire.

The black marble floor cracked when knuckles made contact, giving way under the extreme force in that single punch. Amidst the dust cloud that seeped in wisps from the cracks, Ward saw an ominous smile. And a faint glow of orange under the rolled up sleeves.

The figure slowly rose, whistling as he stood back up to his towering height. 'Wonderful instincts as expected. Maybe it's time to get serious, eh Agent Ward? If you keep dodging me, you might lose an arm or two.' The chuckle barely registered in Ward's head before the man came at him again, with the tenacity of a wild beast.

…

There has been a change in plans, unfortunately due to my lack of prior planning. There may be more chapters than 25 for this story, and the update timing may vary according to my class schedule. I apologize for the extremely long wait.