Redback Widow | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [3]

The Only Light in the Darkness

"I'm afraid this might scar," we were all gathered in the medical lab, where Simmon's was tending to Ward's wounds, who had appeared last night out of nowhere. "Upside--you'll look badass, dangerous," Skye shrugged. "He's gonna be fine though, right?" Fitz asked, getting quite close to Ward. "He will if you back up and give me some room," Simmons scolded, coming over to that side and waving Fitz away. "So what then?" Coulson asked.

"By the time we got to the Fridge, it was too late. It was overrun--HYDRA everywhere. We couldn't stop them," Ward admitted. "What were they after?" I asked, crossing my arms.  "Everything. They took weapons, alien artifacts--anything they could grab," he said. "I assume that means the prisoners are no longer prisoners?" Coulson asked and Ward nodded slightly. "So...Ian Quinn..." Skye started.

"I'm sorry. He's out. They all are," he admitted. "And Garrett? Did he get away?" Fitz asked. "Couldn't stop them from taking the Fridge, but I wasn't gonna let Garrett walk...not after what he did," he said, glancing at Skye. "Is he the one that did this to you?" Skye asked. "He was a tough son of a bitch," Ward grumbled.

"'Was?' Past tense?" May asked. "As soon as I got the upper hand, I put two in the back of his head. One from me...one from you," he said, looking at Trip. "I would've emptied the mag," Trip admitted. "You're all set--well, I mean, as set as you can be with two cracked ribs and a zygomatic fracture," Simmons said. "Uh, for those of you that don't know what that is, that's a..." Fitz started.

 "Hairline fracture to the cheekbone," Fitz and Trip said at the same time, looking at each other weirdly. "Your body needs time to heal. Please take some time," Simmons said tentatively. "Understood. Thanks. Ah. One small victory. HYDRA didn't get their hands on this," Ward said, holding up a hard drive. "A hard drive?" Trip asked. "It's all the research our team's ever done, downloaded off the plane and encrypted for safekeeping," Skye explained.

"We should probably back it up now that we're in a secure facility," Ward suggested. "First, Skye, I need you on threat assessment. Pull up a list of all the inmates in the Fridge. I want to know just how bad this is," Coulson ordered.

-

"This is really, really bad. Quinn is the least scary of the bunch and he shot Asya...twice," Skye exclaimed. "Quinn's more a sociopath. A lot of those inmates are full-blown psychopaths--violent, impulsive," Coulson admitted. "And some have superpowers. Lovely," Skye griped. "Is Marcus Daniels on the list? That's him. Cross-check the list of inmates with crime databases, recent activity. Got a feeling we'll be seeing a slight uptick," Coulson ordered. "Okay, but that'll take time and more computing power than my laptop. Agen Koenig probably has some sort of--" Skye started.

"I'm sure he'll lend a hand. The plane you flew in on--is it operational?" Coulson asked Ward. "Yeah. You need me to pilot?" Ward asked, standing up. "You heard Simmons. You stay and get better. I'm gonna take a splinter team out and start going after inmates on that list, starting with Mr. Daniels. I think I know where he's going," Coulson said. "Are you sure it's wise to split up the team, leave this base? What if it's part of HYDRA's plan--a distraction?" I asked. "She's got a point. I mean, Fury brought you to this base for a reason. We're safe here," Skye said.

"Yeah, we're safe here. But what about everyone else--people who don't have access to a top-secret underground shelter? What about them? I don't know if it's wise, but it's right. I'm taking a team, and that's the end of it,"

-

We all stood in a line in a room, Eric standing beside a large and suspicious-looking chair. "Alright. Just gonna need you guys to answer a few questions, a few psychoanalytic, non-sequester questions," Eric said. "A lie detector," Coulson summarized. "The lie detector, Agent Coulson. This baby measures galvanic skin response, oxygen consumption, micro-expressions, biofeedback brain waves, pupil dilation, voice biometrics--ninety-six variables in all. Fury designed this himself. He wanted a lie detector Romanoff couldn't beat," Eric said. "Did she?" I asked.