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✧·ﾟ:CHAPTER TWENTY*:·ﾟ✧
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✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* ragtag *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
date: 16th January 2014
location: Dive Motel, Los Angeles
━━"Eyewitnesses claim the assailant smashed through several walls before killing Columbia's most notorious drug lord, Alejandra Castillo, AKA El Doggo. Speculation continues as to whether this superhuman assassination was carried out by a man, monster, or machine━" at the picture of Mike Peterson that came up on the television screen, Fitz turned it off.
"The correct answer is 'D', all of the above," he muttered, throwing the remote onto the bed. He turned back to Skye, Roy and Simmons who were all doing separate work for Coulson in finding Ward and Garrett. Roy had a new drive in her to find him and lock him up; for Skye, and for Coulson, but also for herself━for the betrayal that hurt her much deeper than she'd admit. "What the hell is Deathlok doing in Bogota?"
"And why would he kill a drug lord with known ties to HYDRA?" Simmons added, looking up from her work.
"Well," Skye thought about it, "if they really are in Colombia, then Garrett and our hijacked plane might not be in American airspace. I have to expand our search."
Roy let out an annoyed sigh and leaned back away from her documents. "Great," she muttered. "That's just fantastic."
At the knock on the door, they all fell silent and looked up to meet Coulson's gaze. "Guys, you wanna come in here for a minute?"
Together, they left their work and came into the master bedroom. At the sight of May, Roy pursed her lips. She had returned last night when they had all headed to bed, suddenly willing to help again. Roy was glad to see her, but not knowing the full story made her a bit unsure. At the moment, secrets weren't a good thing to keep. On the small board that Coulson had bought, May was drawing up nine circles surrounding one large circle in the middle. Each circle was labelled: HYDRA, Quinn, Ward and Garrett were some.
As they sat down on the large bed, May handed the pen over to Coulson who took it in his fingers and pointed the butt at what she had drawn.
"This is just about everything we've been dealing with. And this━" he pointed to the middle square and wrote one singular word: Cybertek. He underlined it, "━connects them all. 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." When he ran out of room to play connect-the-HYDRA-dot, he sighed. "Should've drawn another chart for this part."
"No, I get it," said Fitz. "Garrett's been developing Centipede Serum all this time."
"Yes," Coulson snapped his fingers at him.
"And he wants GH-325 as its final ingredient," continued Simmons.
"A way to stabilise and regenerate his Centipede soldiers," added Roy.
"And it's why Ward came back for the hard drive," finished May. "It had all of your research about Coulson and Skye. It's all on there."
"But that's not the only thing on there," said Coulson. "Skye left them a little surprise."
"A Trojan horse," she explained. "It's been slowly mapping every system they've uploaded it too."
At this, Fitz and Simmons exclaimed, "Well, that's brilliant━", "A Trojan Horse! Well done Skye━", "━You can wake up and take over their systems!"
"Yeah, thanks! Except, it doesn't work that way because I didn't have enough time to build it, so, we need to plug this━" she pulled out a thumb drive, "━into one of their computers to activate it. Spoiler alert, we can't seem to find one."
"I think we have," smirked May. "Garrett and Cybertek have been working together for years. If it's on Garrett's system..."
"It's on Cybertek's," realised Roy, and May nodded.
"Which is why we're gonna go into one of their offices."
"We have no authority to do this," said Coulson. "We're no longer S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, we're━"
"We're vigilantes," grinned Fitz. Roy gasped, while Simmons grinned. The three friends shared a high-five.
Coulson frowned slightly, "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."
They waited for Trip to return with his grandfather's old case. Roy still couldn't believe that he was the grandson of a Howling Commando. The soldiers that fought with Captain America in World War Two━absolutely crazy! Roy was excited to see the old spy artefacts that they could still use; SSR times, before S.H.I.E.L.D., back when HYDRA was the clear enemy and wasn't within S.H.I.E.L.D. itself. Almost felt like the good old days.
(Except it was filled with Nazi's and genocide ... so, not good old days).
Seeing him enter, the young agents all gasped━excited━for him to set the old yellow case onto the bed. Opening it up, Coulson turned to them, like a father scolding his over-excited children. Despite all being young adults, that was perhaps the most accurate description of what they were. "Now, Trip was generous enough to offer up some of his grandad's spy tech to help us out." When he pulled off the plait cover, their eyes bulged. Fitz looked like he was in heaven. "We should systematically take a full inventory━oh, my God! Is that a handheld hypno-beam?!"
Roy shared an amused glance with Skye, maybe Coulson was the child and they were the parents in this situation. He picked up what looked to be a hairdryer━Roy guessed that was what it was disguised as. "One of the original beta's," Trip told him. "See how it has the switch on the bottom?"
"The production models moved it to the side," gushed Coulson. "This is amazing! Almost as cool as a━"
"━Transistorised blast gun," Coulson looked up when Trip finished his sentence. Roy chuckled under her breath and Skye pursed her lips.
"Okay, the two of you can get a room later, but we have a plane to catch."
Fitz picked up a noise maker, and as soon as he saw it, Coulson immediately grabbed it and took it off him with a strained, "No..."
Roy gasped, "Oh, my gosh! Is that an old invisible ink solution?!" She picked it up, and let out a laugh when she smelt lemon juice.
"Where did they buy this stuff?" wondered Skye. "From the back of a comic book?"
"Come on, girl," Trip laughed at her, nodding to the object in her hands, "that's not really a joy buzzer. That's a━" when she pressed the trigger button out of curiosity, the lights around the hotel room blasted. "EMP ..." he finished, wincing. "Knocks power out in about ten-foot radius."
Skye placed it back, red in embarrassment.
Fitz slipped on some old binoculars. He looked ridiculous. "Yeah. A lot of vintage S.H.I.E.L.D. spy craft was designed to look innocent in case the spy was caught. Like━like these smokes━" he picked up the package and pulled out one to show them. Turning it, a red laser beam emitted from the tip. Fitz━with his ridiculous goggles━placed the cigarette in his fingers and pretended to be smoking. The group of them chuckled.
"Thanks Trip," Coulson turned to the specialist. "This is a huge help. Gives us a fighting chance against these bad guys."
The smoke alarm made them jump, and they all turned to Fitz. He let out an, "Uh..." as he glanced back at the fire that had started on the curtains thanks to his smoke-laster.
Roy sighed, giving him an annoyed look, "Oh, Fitz..."
He quickly turned it off, and May crossed her arms. "What out, HYDRA, here we come."
✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* ragtag *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
date: 16th January, 2014
location: Cybertek Corporation; Palo Alto, California
━━Clara Roy was not happy. Since there was only May and Coulson to head into the corporation as scientists proposing ideas of Fitz-Roy-Simmons's creation, one of the trio had to miss out on being impersonated. There was only one way to decide this, a tournament of Rochambeau━and Clara lost to Simmons. Again.
The plan was this: have May and Coulson disguise themselves as Fitz and Simmons (well, not exactly those names, but that was basically who they were━Clara is very offended that she lost and she didn't get to be impersonated) and come forward to Cybertek with an interview to be apart of their corporation. Afterwards, they would then locate the computer, take out any opposition, put the thumb drive in, and Skye would activate the Trojan horse that would lead them to Ward and Garrett. It seemed a lot simpler than it actually was. But they could handle themselves.
"I'm Ott, Senior of Vp and of R&D," greeted the interviewer. "This is Diaz."
"I'm Theo Thittle, this is Doctor Roum," said Coulson. Clara scoffed. This was just Fitz-Simmons. Imagine just being Fitz-Simmons. (She scoffed again). Roy holds a third of the weight in their work, they'd be lost without her. And besides━Fitz-Simmons is so empty! There has to be a Roy in there. "Thanks so much for seeing us on such short notice."
"We've met with a number of other former S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists recently," said Ott, "and, I must say, thus far we're underwhelmed. HYDRA, on the other hand, less constrained in their thinking. And younger."
"Usually younger," added Diaz.
Fitz sighed, "I told you we should've gone in!"
"Yes!" said Roy. "That way, I'm not excluded!"
"Oh, hush, the both of you," Simmons rolled her eyes. "May looks barely a day over━" realising the two could hear them, she quickly backtracked, "━thirty. You're gorgeous."
May must have tapped the badge on her coat, for Skye grinned from the front seat as she received the transmitter locator. "Score one for the Howling Commandos," she said to Trip. "Your grandpa's spin should help me locate Cybertek's mainframe."
"I didn't know they had Wi-Fi back in the day."
"They didn't," Skye answered. "That's the beauty of the pin. It uses UHF to search for data. Nobody's even scanning those frequencies for potential leaks—" at a beep, she fell short. Roy glanced over the seat to see the words UNABLE TO DETECT DATA SIGNATURES. "That's weird. I'm not finding any digital data about anything. Let alone a source for it. How's that possible?"
"Maybe it's protected," suggested Trip. "Or insulated somewhere inside?"
Skye sighed and picked up her radio, "Guys, just keep them busy a minute longer."
"Okay," Fitz returned to their radio for Coulson and May. "Now, show the ICER bullet," as he spoke, Coulson copied his exact words:
"I designed this to be powerful, non-lethal, and to break━" a the roll of his 'r', Roy sighed, pinching her nose, "━break up under subcutaneous tissue."
Simmons quickly cut in, and May spoke her words: "And my challenge was that it could only hold a dose of eighty-five micrograms of dendrotoxin━"
Roy couldn't help in, she butted in, and it was good that May kept going on her words, "━He should've run the specs by me before building moulds. But I think we can all agree that the true beauty is in my hyper-concentrated dendrotoxin formula━" Fitz let out an, "━uh, no, my cartridge casing projections system! Obviously━!" Roy gave him a glare as she continued, "━with compressed air expulsion━" Simmons smacked Roy on the shoulder, "—Hey! Don't butt in! You'll confuse Coulson and May!"
They had a flurry of small arguments, only to be cut off by Ott replying in a bored tone, "We've seen one of these bullets before. What did they use it with?"
"The sleepy-sleep gun, I think," said Diaz.
Fitz-Roy-Simmons were outraged as Ott continued, "Our team took this rudimentary concept and converted it into an aerosol grenade. Much more useful."
Clara let out a scoff of, "Those mother━"
Fitz cut her off, annoyed━(and Coulson quickly caught on): "But this is an ICER! Triple the stopping power and a much cooler━" Coulson ignored the curse that followed, "━name."
Ott seemed to consider this, "What else do you have?"
"Building permits Cybertek's filed in the city..." Skye sighed and leaned back in her chair as she looked through anything that could help them. "There's something funky about the fourth floor. Only one way in our out. Extra reinforced security door."
"That's gotta be it, right?" frowned Trip.
Skye grabbed her radio, "Coulson, May, can you get to the fourth floor?"
They didn't get a yes or no answer, but at the sound of the interview going purposefully sour, they knew that was a sign of them trying to find a way. It was about fifteen minutes of nervous waiting until Coulson's voice came onto the radio.
"Skye? I think I know why you couldn't find the mainframe. There isn't one."
Skye frowned, "What do you mean, there isn't one?"
"All the files are hard copies."
"That's why Granny was typing during our meeting," added May. "We're here. Might as well look around."
"This is just fantastic," Roy muttered. "First they take our ideas, and second these bad guys are smart! They're never smart in the movies. This just isn't fair."
Another few minutes. The group of them sat━silent and waiting━for Coulson and May's reply. Roy fiddled with the rings on her fingers. Simmons tapped her nails against her chin. Fitz's leg bounced up and down. As soon as their voices return, their fiddling ceased.
"Skye, Trip, get ready for a large file transfer," said Coulson.
"How large?" asked Skye.
From above, a window on the fourth floor shattered. Out of it came flying a whole filing cabinet. It landed with a great big thud on the concrete, and the group of them shared looks of oh, my God before rushing out to bring it into the back of the truck. Fitz-Roy-Simmons tugged it with them, while Skye got the engine started and Trip pulled out a grappling hook gun from his suitcase of Howling Commando treats. Skye backed the truck up, and Fitz-Roy-Simmons were read to push the filing cabinet into tieback. Trip shot the grappling hook all the way up into the window of the fourth floor and tightened the rope to the bumper. Using their belts, May and Coulson zip-lined down. As soon as they were back, they were on the road.
"What's in this?" Roy was brave enough to ask.
"Our answer to all this," replied Coulson as Skye took a rough turn. "I'll explain when we get back to the motel."
When they returned to the motel, it was a rush of looking through all the files they stole, trying to make an understanding of Deathlok and all its properties. The information they received baffled Roy, and she had to reread the files multiple times.
"Garrett started Project Deathlok way back in 1990," Coulson showed them the file as they sat outside their motel rooms by the pool. Roy felt her insides twist as she read what they had done to him—nearly none of him was left human, it was just cyber. "Look at this! He was Patient Zero."
"We've been looking at this all backwards," said Skye with a sigh. "Garrett doesn't just want GH-325 for his Centipede soldiers, he wants it for himself. So 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?" asked Fitz, looking up from the file he had been eating with a hopeful glance. "Maybe he's been programmed."
"Fitz," Roy turned to him, breathing out a gentle sigh. "When are you going to stop clinging to the idea that Ward's the victim and not the perpetrator."
He frowned at her, surprised, "When I see something that tells me I shouldn't with my own two eyes. We don't know all the facts."
"You want a fact, Fitz?" Skye exploded, slamming her hands on the table and glaring down at him. He jumped. "Ward murders people!" Fitz adverted his gaze, his ears going red in shame. Skye scoffed, standing back up and shaking her head. "I should've let Mike finish him when I had the chance. You," she spun towards Roy and she frowned, "Should have let Mike finish him off when he had the chance. But no, you saved the life of a murderer for what? For what reason?" Roy pursed her lips, her shoulders slumping at her friend. "It was stupid and weak."
With that said, she stormed off and back into the hotel room. A silence echoed after her, and Clara's gaze dropped down to her fingers. She was right. She should have just let him die. She had saved the life of a murderer. Gave HYDRA intel for someone who betrayed and lied to her. A hand was suddenly on Clara's shoulder, and she looked up.
"You weren't weak," Coulson told her. "You had compassion. That's harder."
Pizza arrived, but Skye didn't have any. She was still in the hotel room, leaving the group of them outside still sifting through files. In the end, Trip managed to ID a number of Cybertek shipments that ping-ponged across the globe in Brazil, Cambodia, Syria ... but all of them landed back in Havana where S.H.I.E.L.D. used to have a base. They found them.
✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* ragtag *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
date: 16th January, 2014
location: Havana, Cuba
━━They were to split up. Trip, May, Skye, Coulson and Simmons were to head to the base and see what was located there. Roy was paired off with Fitz to find the Bus and let the others know of its location. Roy wasn't a big fan. In her experience, whenever her, Fitz and Simmons were separated, something bad happened; something bad always happened. One of them was going to get hurt, or get sick, or try and jump out of a plane, or not have an extraction plan, or are stuck in a HYDRA invasion ... Roy fiddled with the buttons of her cardigan as she stood next to Fitz at the open Howling Commando's case. She could tell he was a bit tense around her, possibly thinking the same thing. Or maybe it was because of Skye's outburst. Roy knew he couldn't admit the truth, he'd keep denying it until he was sure all other possibilities are out of the window. He was strikingly loyal; to the bone. It was sad that Ward used that━no, not sad, infuriating. Clara hated him for it. She should have never let him live.
"You sure you don't want something else?" Trip asked them, sorting through his grandfather's inventory of awesome-spy-things. "How about one of these quarter walkie-talkies? They have a built-in homing beacon," he handed it over to Fitz, trying to make him feel better. "Okay. I'll keep one, too."
"Thanks," he muttered. Roy smiled slightly at the interaction, seeing Fitz a lot less irritable in Trip's company. "Don't want to be greedy, though," he then added. "We've already got the D.W.A.R.V.E.S."
Trip chuckled, "No problem," he closed the lid. "All right," he held his hand up for a fist-pump. With a grin, Fitz accepted it by closing his palm around it and Trip laughed. Roy's smile broadened at the two of them, happy.
"Thanks, Trip," said Roy. "For all of this."
"Oh, come on girl," he grinned at her, giving her a side-hug. "It's my pleasure."
"Look after yourself out there, okay?" She told him, and he nodded. He gave her a one-finger salute.
"Yes, Doctor Roy."
She rolled her eyes, and they turned back to Coulson who had already started briefing. "Because we had to fly in low, we'll have to search for our plane from the ground. Fitz, Roy, you have the maps," he met their gazes, suddenly very stern. "Do not engage under any circumstances. If you find the Bus, call us and stand down, or come back here and wait."
They nodded, "We'll be careful━", "━Understood, sir."
Coulson replied with a nod of his own. "Let's do it."
They broke apart. Before Fitz and Roy left, they glanced back, meeting Simmons's gaze and giving her a reassuring nod that they'll be okay. She took a deep breath, and returned with one too. Clara then found her gaze wondering over to Skye, letting her know the same, and then finally Coulson again. She smiled at him, promising him a final time that she and Fitz will be careful despite the foreboding feeling she had in the pit of her stomach.
The maps led them to a village not far from Havana. Fitz parked them a little while away, and they made the rest of their trek on foot. While staying close, they were too scared to talk, afraid that Garrett or Ward would just appear out of nowhere. They found the plane quicker than Roy expected. At a deserted airfield, the Bus was parked right in the plains. Fitz and Roy rushed to hide in the small shed amongst the dust and old payment books. With narrowed eyes, Roy looked out of the window at the truck backing up near the ramp. They were loading up the Bus with something━with what, she wasn't too sure. What she did know was that they meant they were planning on leaving very soon. So, she rang Coulson.
"Yeah?" he answered.
"We found the Bus," Roy said, keeping her eyes on the scene before her. At her side, Fitz examined what was happening through a pair of binoculars. "It's on an airfield outside Abel Santamaria packing up to leave."
"We're on our way," said Coulson. "How far is that from our location."
Roy kissed her teeth, "About three hours. But by the looks of it, they'll be long gone by the time you can get here, sir."
"Get out of there, right now. Do not engage. Wait for us back at the Jumpjet."
Roy gave another glance outside with furrowed brows. If they left, if they did as Coulson told them to, they would lose the Bus again. This was their one chance to get it back—to at least place a tracker on it so it would be easier to trace next time. There had to be some sort of way. "Copy that, sir," she said to the phone, but as she hung up, she turned to Fitz with a determined gaze.
He frowned at her. "I know that look."
Roy sighed, and shrugged. "Look, I know we're not supposed to engage, but..." her gaze flickered out into the distance where the Bus was getting ready to set off. "If they get away we'll be back to square one. I can't handle square one again."
Fitz pursed his lips. Looking back through the binoculars, he let out a gasp at something he saw. "Garrett's here," the binoculars fell and he turned to her with wide eyes. He passed over the binoculars, and she looked herself. "Which means Ward's probably there, too."
Clara looked through the goggles, and indeed there was Garrett, standing proudly on the ramp and overlooking each box that was being carried up and inside. Her gaze hardened. They couldn't let them get away again ... not after she had let him live ...
An idea struck her.
"What if we send one of the D.W.A.R.V.E.S. into the plane from here?" She glanced back at Fitz, who was thinking the idea through. "They can stowaway inside so we can track where the Bus is going."
"Yes..." he quickly nodded, snapping his fingers at her. "Roy, excellent suggestion. We can send Sleepy, he's our best listener. Next to you, of course."
Roy smiled slightly at that. "Okay," Fitz took back the binoculars. "I'll go get him from the truck..." he faltered in his words, and she frowned. Glancing back to see what had happened, Clara let out a strangled gasp to see Ward standing in the doorway.
He sent them a smile, but it wasn't a kind one. It was wry, crooked. Fitz stumbled back towards Roy, his eyes wide and his words stammering so much that nothing came out. "Long time, no see."
They had no choice but to follow. Ward led them to the Bus. Roy stayed close to Fitz, holding his hand tight━just to know that he was there with her. Alive, and with her. Ward didn't look very happy about this. His jaw clenched, but didn't say anything. They were led up through the ramp and to the main lounge deck. They passed the Command Centre. It felt wrong for Ward to walk amongst the place that used to be their home, now covered with shattered glass and filled to the brim with HYDRA agents. Roy felt sick to the stomach at the sight of it. Seeing Garrett amongst it all was the worst. He glanced up from his thoughts when he heard their footsteps. At Ward's: "Here they are," he managed a small smirk.
Fitz was a lot braver than Roy. He stared Garret right in the eye and said, "This is our plane. We want it back."
"Really?" Garrett looked paler than usual. "Just like that, kid? Coulson probably figured out we were using the barbershop. Call Kaminsky. He'll know what to do." While he was distracted, Fitz carefully reached into his jacket pocket. "All right, let's close up the ramp and get this bird off the ground. Tell the pilot to keep it low and in Harrier mode till we're out over the Gulf."
Noticing Fitz's hand, Ward reached out and grabbed his arm. Fitz froze, but didn't show any sign of fear. Garrett frowned. "What's he got there?"
Ward roughly pulled his hand out of his pocket and showed the contents in his palm: the home beacon disguised as a coin, and the EMP joy buzzer. Roy hoped they would look past it, think of it as nothing. Ward rolled his eyes at the sight of it. "One of those prank joy buzzers."
"Yeah," said Fitz, "you know me. Always kidding around," at this, he pressed his thumb on the trigger. Around them, the lights short-circuited. Roy watched━a little pleased━when Garret's body sparked with electricity. Ward snatched the buzzer, his eyes wide with fear at his former S.O falling to his knees.
"What the hell was that?!"
"An EMP," Garrett said through gritted teeth as Ward came to his side.
Fitz took a step forward, but the HYDRA agent behind him got a grip on the back of his jacket. "Looks like the joke's on you."
The floor shuddered beneath them as the plane took off. Roy kept her legs rooted, glaring at Ward and Garrett. In seconds, they had had him on the table, and Ward rushed to the lab, yelling for people to get out of his way. As Garrett lied dying, Roy took a deep breath. Her gaze was similar to Fitz's━unbothered, with a hint of sick satisfaction. This time, Roy won't save anyone's life. She will watch them die. She won't be weak. As Ward returned, coming to his knees beside Garrett and undoing a small metal box, Fitz said, "I'm glad that I did it. You hear me? You lose, we win."
Garrett scowled at him, "You're dead."
"No worse than you. And you don't have to take orders from him anymore, Ward!" Fitz turned to their former team mate. "Ward!" Grant's eyes met theirs, and Roy saw an ounce of vulnerability. However, she wasn't sure whether that fear was for them, or for Garrett at his side. "Let him die. He deserves to die!"
"Get them out of here!" ordered Ward, and Roy sent him a glare as they were pushed away. "Clear! Everybody out!"
They were led into the lab. Roy still had a firm grip of Fitz's hand, keeping her eyes fixed forward. She knew the agents were still behind them, and up above, Ward at Garrett's side while he died. She tried to think of a way out━any escape route. There were many; the only problem was that they were halfway across the Atlantic Ocean. A squeeze from Fitz's hand made her glance up at him. He gave her a look, and she could only take it as a signal for them to do something. So, Roy did something she was great at, she talked.
"Coulson will find us, won't he?" she asked, putting as much fear into her tone as she could so that the agents behind them wouldn't even bother keeping ahold of them━for what could a doctor and an engineer do against them?
"Man won't rest until every HYDRA agent is either dead or behind bars," replied Fitz. They passed a chair, and he pulled away to grab it and throw it towards the two agents behind them. "Go!" He shouted at Roy, and the two of them burst into a sprint into the avionics corridor.
Thundering footsteps told Roy that the agents were behind them. Quickly, she came up with an idea and took Fitz's hand, dragging him into the second avionics bay to their left. With shaky fingers, she locked the doors. Fitz nodded at her, and the told them to run again. Together, they hurried down the corridor towards the ladder to the cockpit. Neither of them knew how to fly this plane, but they could try, right? Roy skidded to a stop when she saw Ward already climbing down them.
"Clara!" Fitz shouted and pulled her back before Ward could even comprehend they were there. He opened up a storage pod and said, "Get in there! Go!"
He closed the door just as Ward reached them. He smacked his fists against the glass, frustrated, but Fitz had locked the door━Ward couldn't get to them. Fitz and Roy were breathless, hearts racing. Ward narrowed his eyes at them, and Roy never thought she'd be on the receiving end of his dark, terrifying glares. "Open the door, Fitz."
"Ward, please," he placed his hands on the glass. "I need to understand."
"Fitz," Roy muttered, pulling at the sleeve of his jacket. "Fitz, don't━"
"No," he told her. "I don't care what everyone thinks, Clara. I don't believe it." Returning his gaze to Ward, Fitz tapped the glass. There was a desperation to his voice; he was begging Ward to prove him right. To prove that his loyalty wasn't for nothing. That all the kindness and the heart and the love he had shown them as if he was an older brother was the truth, and not just the product of just a mission. "We're friends, aren't we? We've been friends. We've had laughs together." Ward's gaze fell, and he clenched his jaw.
Fitz stepped even closer to the glass of the door, "I know that you're a good person, Ward," he begged. "And you can choose right now to be good. It's a choice!"
Ward gritted his teeth, taking a deep breath of his own. "I've got my orders," he told Fitz. "Open up the door."
"No," Clara said, glaring.
Fitz's shoulders fell. Clara saw it right then and there━that hopeful spark━fade away from his blue eyes. He stepped away from the door, his eyes red and sweat coating his brow. "Not a chance," he mumbled.
"Okay," said Ward. He nodded and took a step back. "Have it your way," he turned around to the avionic box behind him, the one that controlled the entry and exit of the pod.
Clara's eyes widened. "Wait. What are you doing? Ward? Ward━what are you doing?!"
"Okay, wait," Fitz banged his hands against the glass. "Wait!"
"No, no, no, Ward!" she shouted through the door, her stomach dropping as he typed in the code. "Ward, just think about this━"
"━Okay, wait. Wait. Ward━"
"━Ward, please━!"
"━Just give it a second━!"
"━wait, wait, wait, wait━" Fitz slammed the glass again, "━Ward! Ward! Look at me━just turn around!" He glanced back at them, and Fitz screamed. "Don't do it! DON'T DO IT! Ward! Okay━you don't have to do this! You don't have to━you have a choice!"
"Ward!" Clara cried, her palms flat against the glass. "Ward, stop━!"
"Ward━look at me! I know you care about us, Ward! Ward━PLEASE!"
Clara pounded her fists on the door, screaming. "No! No! Stop!" Her shouts turned to cries of desperation as he finished the final code. "Don't do this━you said you'd never hurt me, Ward━weren't we anything?━you said your feelings were real━please don't do this━WARD━!"
He pulled the lever, and Fitz and Roy screamed his name as they fell into the ocean.
✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
a/n: it's nearly the end of season one. fuck. fuck. fuck. my babies. all the laughter and fun times is going away. fuck. fuck. fuck. i'm not ready for the angst i've written. FUCK.
also ... he he he ... headcannons? Fitz-Roy headcannons of when they were at the Academy, anyone?