X marks the spot

Failed Experiments

Aaron hadn't been sure how much time had passed. He wasn't sure how long he had been at this for. He didn't care. The only thing he did care about was the fact that they were getting nowhere. Mack was ok, at least according to Sarah he was. She still had access to SHIELD servers, she hadn't ever left and she was too far into the server to ever be logged out.

It gave him some rest, knowing that he was at least ok. He hadn't failed someone else. He had saved one life.

Now he was just trying to save the rest, even if they hated him for it. He had to protect them; that was what friend's did after all - acted in each others best interests.

Jemma had taught him that. Jemma, who had been taken hostage by HYDRA, Jemma who looked coldly at him when she saw him with Ward.

Jemma, who got hurt because he didn't act.

"Why are you pacing?" Sarah asked, looking up from her laptop to him. He was indeed pacing, and he had been for the past 20 minutes.

He didn't pause as he spoke, "Any actual targets you want to pick out? Or are we just gonna get cannon fodder all day?" He spat, he didn't even try to hide his true feelings on this topic. On the lack of progress that had been made.

Don't get her wrong, so was she; she wasn't one step closer to finding her kids than she was before she met him. The only difference that was there was that now she was closer than ever to being found out. To being tracked down and probably having her children killed.

She pulled up the list of the known associates of Decon's crew. Most of them had a record, those that didn't were either found through cameras or where the woman could get into phones.

Most were still unknown.

"We'd work quicker if we were both out there. I thought times were now 'both sides can do it'."

His snark was taken in, "We are. But I left that life behind."

Aaron scoffed, "Bullshit. What, you were gonna hack your way into finding your kids? I didn't know Aiden Pierce was real."

Still, she did her best to reign in her anger, it was like rule one at SHIELD; rather, old SHIELD. The amount of times it had been reborn, she did not know.

She met his eyes, his eyes ablaze, and hers cool and calm, "I had a plan before SHIELD fell. HYDRA then came in and moved it. Adaptation, it's how you survive."

"Adaptation? All you've done is move where you stay! You haven't changed shit. You just sit there, typing, making nail bombs. Think the IRA would like you."

Still, she didn't snap, she still held his gaze as she spoke, "We build our way up. Take out the low end an then go up, bit by bit."

"Fuck that. They keep bringing new blood in. You want your kids back, don't you?" She fixed him with a look, one that warned him; he ignored it, "Then we go up the chain. All the way up the damn chain, get some answers. And make a dent."

"And what? Die in the process?" She fired back at him. This was another thing about SHIELD she didn't quite get, how far they would go to get to the top, how they would throw numbers after numbers, only to get the same result every time.

Maybe HYDRA and SHIELD were just as insane as each other. Maybe it was why their war would never fully end; only keep going until the black hole enveloped everyone, but they'd still find a way.

Spite, and desperation, were powerful things. That and a good deal of hate always helped. Well, "helped".

"I seem to be pretty lucky with not doing that, depending on how you see it." He said to her, no cocky grin in sight. What she did pick up on, however, was almost some sort of discontent with those words.