Blood of the Covenant |1| The Dark Waters Series (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

Chapter Nineteen: The Only Light in the Darkness

In a lab at the Providence base, Simmons winced as she worked on Ward's injuries. "I'm afraid this might scar."

"Upside, you'll look badass, dangerous," Skye offered.

"He's gonna be fine, though, right?" Fitz asked, looking at Ward worriedly.

Simmons pushed him out of her way gently. "He will, if you back up and give me some room."

"So what then?" Coulson asked, his eyes on Ward.

"By the time we got to the Fridge, it was too late," Ward explained. "It was overrun, Hydra everywhere. We couldn't stop them."

"What were they after?" May asked.

Ward shrugged, wincing. "Everything. They took weapons, alien artefacts—anything they could grab."

Genevieve sighed. "I guess that means the prisoners are no longer prisoners." Ward nodded. "So Ian Quinn..."

"I'm sorry," Ward told her, meeting her eyes. "He's out. They all are."

"And Garrett?" Fitz asked. "Did he get away?"

"Couldn't stop them from taking the Fridge, but I wasn't gonna let Garrett walk," Ward said. "Not after what he did."

"He's the one that did this to you," Skye assumed, gesturing to his injuries.

Ward nodded. "He was one tough son of a bitch."

"Was?" May echoed. "Past tense?"

"As soon as I had the upper hand, I put two in the back of his head."

"Good," Fitz smiled, even as Coulson and Genevieve shared a surprised look.

"One from me—" Ward looked over to Trip, nodding. "One from you."

"I would've emptied the mag," Trip admitted

Simmons stepped back, setting down her medical supplies. "You're all set. Well, I mean, as set as you can be with two cracked ribs and a zygomatic fracture."

Fitz perked up. "Oh, for those of you that don't know what that is, it's a—"

"A hairline fracture to the cheekbone," Trip said at the same time as him. They shared a look.

"Your body needs time to heal," Simmons said, giving Ward a serious look. "Please take some time."

He nodded. "Understood. Thanks." Then, as the others moved closer, he pulled out Skye's hard drive. "One small victory: Hydra didn't get their hands on this."

Trip frowned, confused. "A hard drive?"

"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.

Before Skye could agree, Coulson cut in. "First, Skye, I need you on threat assessment. Pull up a list of inmates at the Fridge. I want to know just how bad this is." She nodded.

***

Later, Skye was briefing Genevieve on the situation as Coulson and May entered the dining room behind them. "This is really, really bad," she was saying. "Quinn is the least scary of the bunch and he shot you twice."

Genevieve tilted her head. "Quinn's more of a sociopath. A lot of those inmates are full blown psychopaths. Violent, impulsive."

"And some with superpowers." Skye sighed. "Lovely."

"Is Marcus Daniels on the list?" Coulson asked, making both May and Genevieve look up, recognising the name. Skye turned her laptop, showing the mugshot of a man with the matching name. "That's him," Coulson confirmed. "Cross check the list of inmates with crime databases, recent activity. I got a feeling we'll be seeing a slight uptick."