Chapter Text
“I'm not going to give up the lives of everyone on this plane for Raina,” May declared, voice firm, as she gathered with the rest of the team around the stairs leading up to Coulson's office and the docking port. “She's not worth it.”
“Hydra already has the Obelisk,” Skye replied, checking the amount of ammo in the clip before slamming it back in and removing the safety. “If they have Raina too–”
May interrupted her, a sense of urgency in her tone. “We still have the edge. Coulson is already on site, Hydra's not.”
“How the hell did they even find us?” Trip groaned. “We were cloaked.”
“Raina's tracker,” Skye stilled, tinged with frustration as she heard Grant Ward's voice. She tightened her grip on her gun, standing alongside May, her current SO after Ward had betrayed her and the team. She could see everyone else reacting in the same way. “Old frequency S.H.I.E.L.D used during the Cold War,” Ward explained nonchalantly. “What can I say? I'm a history buff.”
Skye glared at him, feeling the collective tension in the room. “Lower your weapons,” Ward demanded, looking annoyed that they hadn't complied, as if he hadn't been the one to hijack their plane. “Anyone shoots, the plane goes down, we all die.” But he should have expected that no one would listen to him.
“Maybe it's worth it,” May grumbled.
“Let's not get carried away just yet,” Hunter interjected.
“First, you give us Bakshi, now you're back with Hydra? Pick a side, Ward,” Skye said, her voice laced with bitterness.
“Oh, I have. Don't worry,” he replied, clearly not on the side Skye hoped for. She watched as Ward turned to Raina. “Let's go.”
Raina smiled slightly. “With pleasure.”
Ward then turned his attention back to Skye. “You too.”
May and Skye exchanged glances, confusion etched on their faces. “What?” Skye asked.
“I made you a promise, Skye,” Ward said, taking a step closer. “I'm here to keep it. You're coming with us.”
May's expression hardened even further. “The hell she is. She's not going anywhere.”
Skye quickly assessed the situation. If she didn't go with Ward, he would blow up the plane. But if she stayed, they might all die anyway. “May,” Skye pleaded. If she went with Ward, they might have a chance of survival. “If I don't go with him, he's gonna blow this plane to pieces.”
“They're hydra,” Trip countered. “They'll do it anyway.” Which was more than likely, Trip makes a fair point. On the other hand, Skye knows that Ward had kept his promises. He tells her the truth, even when most of that truth is only in halves.
“You can't trust him, Skye,” May warned, positioning herself in front of her. I know Skye tried to convey with her eyes.
“Yes, you can,” Ward insisted, his voice gentle. “Skye, look at me.”
“Don't talk to her,” May interjected, determined to protect her.
“Skye, I give you my word,” Ward reassured, his voice soothing. “Come with me, we won't fire a single shot. Everyone gets out alive.”
“Skye, you can't,” May pleaded, but they both knew it was their best option, even if they despised it. Skye knew that with Ward watching her, she wouldn't be physically harmed.
Taking a deep breath, Skye reluctantly stepped closer to Ward, close enough to catch a whiff of his cologne. She didn't want to, but she handed him her gun, her only means of defense against him.
Raina stopped her with a smile. “Oh, Skye, don't forget your tablet, you know the one with the map of the city on it.”
Skye glares at her bitterly for forcing her hand. She clenches her jaw and reluctantly turns around to grab it. The weight of the device felt ominous in her palm.
With a final, lingering look at her team, Skye turned and was pushed to follow Ward and Raina towards the docking exit for the quinjet they used to land on the bus.
Someone had grabbed her shoulder roughly, tugged her up the ramp, and proceeded to only handcuff one of her hands to the chair armrest and strap her in themselves.
It was hard to say if that decision was because they were underestimating her or because Ward forgot that she'd been training after him. The second was unlikely. Ward was a lot of things, but he wasn't stupid. It would take hardly anything out of her to escape this. It was one of the first things May had taught her how to do.
Skye noticed immediately that there were only two other Hydra agents outside of Ward and Reina in the jet. Ward should know it wouldn't be any problem for her to take out those two agents, get out of her cuffs, throw on a parachute, and jump. So why was he making it so easy for her to escape? She wasn't the defenseless hacker he dragged out of her van anymore.
Unfortunately, Skye also knew that no matter how easy it would be to do all that, she'd never get past Ward with her current training. So for now she was left with her thoughts.
She knew that the odds of her meeting her father had just skyrocketed. And after everything that she knew he'd done, she was a little terrified of what he could do to her. If what Raina had told her was true, he slaughtered a whole village full of innocent people. And as much as she hated Ward, she really hoped that he didn't leave her with him.
For the second time, Ward had successfully kidnapped her.
When they land, her tablet got confiscated, and her hands cuffed in front of her by an unnamed Hydra agent. It was unfortunate, really, Skye would have liked to have been able to put the guy on her shit list with a name.
Ward had been trying and failing to get a response out of her while he led her around their base of operations, asking stupid questions she wasn't going to dignify with a response. “How are you?” Nothing. How do you think Ward? Take a wild guess.
“You look good.” Nothing.
“I thought you'd be happier to finally meet your father.” Her teeth grinded together.
“Checking exits, numbers of men, weapons inventory. I’m impressed. How's your marksmanship?”
Fed up, Skye finally responded, “I don't know. Hand me my sidearm back and we can find out.” She bit her tongue, the snarky response came out of her mouth like second nature before she could stop it.
“Cool under pressure. I see May’s teaching you control.”
She knew it! So again, why would he make it so easy to escape? “I suppose it's one of our differences. At S.H.I.E.L.D they train you to control yourself. Hydra wants to control everyone else.”
While they had that little conversation, Skye took note of seven Hydra agents in the hall as they passed, six of them having noticeable side arms.
“I’m not loyal to Hydra.” Ward said as they turned the corner.
She looked at him then, despite herself. He was standing with the cuff key between two fingers, holding it up so she could see it clearly, and his face had settled into something that she couldn't name and didn't want to spend the time trying.
“My orders were to collect Reina, bringing you along was my idea.”
“Starting to think you need a reminder about what happened when you kidnapped me the last time. Because playing the ‘Let’s kidnap Skye’ game didn't end well for you.”
Ward raised her cuff key into her vision. “That’s not my concern.” He was leading her to a set of double doors where, different from the others, stood an agent with a muzzle on his face, taller than all the others she's seen so far and a metal left arm with a dull silver shine and a red star.
“Really? When what is?” Skye questioned, her gaze stuck on the new agent guarding the doors. There was something not right about him; it was unlike the other agents she’d seen so far. He was worryingly still; if he hadn't been standing, Skye would have assumed he was dead.
“Keeping my promise.” Ward moved passed the agent so he could open the doors and push her through. Her father was sitting on a couch watching her. In the corner of her eyes, she noticed Ward turn to the muzzled agent.
"Watch them, Whitehall's orders. " He prowled behind her, hardly pausing to move past her, “I'm sure you two have a lot of catching up to do.” Ward finished leaving her alone, the click of the doors shutting behind him being the only sound in the room.
She'd spent twenty-five years wondering. That was what no one ever really talked about when it came to S.H.I.E.L.D. files and redacted documents and the words no records found. They didn't talk about the wondering– not that a lot of people were in her shoes. Why didn't they want me? What was wrong with me? What would it have been like if–?
She'd imagined a hundred versions of this moment. But that was before her father turned out to be a killer.
She squared her shoulders.