Twisting the Truth Doesn't Make It Real

Chapter 4

-Present Day-

Groaning hours later, Skye thumped her head against the back of her chair and checked the pilfered video feed once again. Still no sign of Ward. His cell door was still open and as empty as the last time she'd checked. A glance at the clock showed it was nearly 4:30. His captors should be bringing him back soon.

Ever since they'd disappeared, Skye had been standing vigil at her computer. There was no way in hell she'd be able to sleep after what she witnessed. Instead, she'd gone back through everything she could find about Ward- every document, report, or photo that even mentioned the agent. And there was a lot.

S.H.I.E.L.D alone had several hundred documents relating to the ex-agent. But everything had fallen short. What she had wasn't everything; Skye knew that based on how little documentation she could find about the man (and how fake most of it seemed). It was a safe bet his past had been doctored. If this was because there were things in his past S.H.I.E.L.D or someone/something else (Hydra, Garrett, maybe even Ward himself) hadn't wanted people to know or if it was because his history was fake, Skye didn't know. It was pretty obvious someone had been playing with Ward's records though, and that as making it harder to figure this out. She hadn't even been able to find his birth certificate on file anywhere.

If she thought for five seconds he'd tell her the truth, she would just go ask him in person. But after the lies (months and months of lies), how could she trust a word he said? Besides, whatever this clandestine business was that had White-coat removing Ward from his cell, she didn't want to risk contacting her former SO. What would happen if someone got suspicious she knew? Would they kill Ward to keep their secret? Possibly, and that was something Skye didn't want to risk. At minimum they needed Ward alive to tell them what these guys were doing to him.

Leaning back, Skye rubbed her eyes as her mind flickered through all the places she'd already searched for anything on the former agent. The hospitals had some injury records that implied child abuse (at least that part of Ward's history was apparently real) and a social services call or two from his region had been dredged up, but she couldn't find any record of his birth and his school record ended when he was fourteen. It was like he'd fallen off the map after that.

"Okay, where haven't I looked?" muttered Skye, rubbing her eyes as she stared at the ceiling. Sporadically, her eyes jumped to the monitor she was using before sliding away again. Some metaphor about pots and boiling stuff slid through her brain, but in her exhausted state it made no sense. Ultimately, she really needed to sleep. "Ugh, okay, think. Where do you usually find records of people? Taxes? Ward would be too young. I've already searched school and medical records for him. Where would I look if it was for anyone else? If I was erasing my own identity again, where would I look for the files? Police records, foster system records, and newspapers....could Ward have a juvie record? Wait, foster system. Adoption records!"

Immediately, Skye shot up in her seat. Could Ward be adopted? It would explain a lack of birth record or a birth certificate. The family had been living in the house for years before she found even a slight record of Ward, so if he was born to them it should have shown up in the records. Plus, she'd found all of Ward's siblings without an issue (who knew he had a sister? Weird...). Every single one of them had been born in the same hospital, but Ward's birth records were conspicuously absent. So unless Ward's mom decided to give birth in another state, he should have been born there, too. But he wasn't.

Pulling up adoption records from the closest Child Welfare center, Skye barely had to look to find the file she wanted: Ward, G. D. Most of the file was sealed, as expected, but she could find the adoption date easily enough: January 7, 1983. Ward's birthday, according to S.H.I.E.L.D's files.

Skye's mind began to race, trying to piece together the information she had. She knew how these records worked though, and if she wanted the full record, she'd have to find a way to steal it. That's how she'd gotten her own non-digital records after all.