Something Worth Saving

Chapter 11

"You know where we're going," May said as she led Ward back towards his cell.

He nodded silently before finally speaking up, "did everyone make it out okay?"

May glared but begrudgingly answered, "yes." There was no thank you, but Ward smiled nonetheless.

They had just reached the door to the cell when Ward stopped abruptly. May nudged his shoulder, "move."

He reached a hand to grab his heart and he fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

May knelt next to him, "what the hell?"

Ward grunted before slipping into unconsciousness. May swore. "Ward, if this is a trick, I swear you are never getting out of that cell again."

He didn't move and she reached out a hand to take his pulse. There was none. She swore again and she shouted, "I need help, NOW."

Mack heard her, having been close by in the workshop. "What's up?"

"I need your help getting him to Simmons."

Mack nodded and picked up Ward's top half while May held up his legs. "What the hell happened?"

"I don't know. He just collapsed all of the sudden and now he doesn't have a pulse."

They carried him quickly towards the lab where Simmons was and she gaped at the sight before her. "What's going on?"

"He collapsed and now he doesn't have a pulse, I don't know what happened."

Simmons nodded and searched for a pulse on Ward's body. She, like May, couldn't find one. Simmons reached for the defibrillator and charged it. "Clear," she said before shocking him. May searched for a pulse before shaking her head.

Simmons swore and charged it again. "Clear," she said again, before shocking him once more.

"Nothing," May said. "He can't die in our custody when we don't know what's happened, Simmons."

May held out her phone and called Coulson. "Get down to the lab now. Ward doesn't have a pulse." She paused. "Yes, he just collapsed and now he doesn't have a pulse. Simmons has already tried shocking him." She paused again as he spoke, ignoring Simmons' futile attempts to start Ward's heart again. "You think that would work? Alright, we can try it, just get down here, NOW," she added sternly before hanging up.

Both Coulson and Lincoln appeared in the lab just a moment later and Coulson explained, "he says his powers have something to do with electricity. I figure as long as Ward doesn't have a heart beat, we don't have anything to lose at this point."

Simmons nodded apprehensively. Like Ward or not, she hated losing patients.

Lincoln took a deep breath and rested his hands on Ward's chest. He closed his eyes and pictured currents of electricity running through his body and down his fingers. He opened his eyes suddenly when he felt a pulse and the constant ringing in his ears stopped.

Ward shot upright and took a deep breath before falling back down onto the table and panting heavily. "What the HELL?"

"You tell us," May answered. "You collapsed all of the sudden and before I knew it, you didn't have a heart beat."

His brow furrowed, "that makes no sense."

"I'm doing a x-ray," Simmons decided. "Help me get him on a stretcher, I'm taking him to the med-bay."

Mack and Lincoln lifted Ward up and laid him down on a stretcher. Simmons wheeled him towards the med-bay and prepped him for an x-ray. She stepped out of the room while the x-ray was being taken and stepped back in once it had finished. She looked over the pictures and called for Fitz. Fitz appeared in the doorway a moment later and paused when he saw Ward, "what is he doing here?"

"I'll explain in a moment," Simmons replied as she handed Fitz the x-ray. "Tell me what you see."

Fitz scrutinized the picture and then answered. "It's a small device. No bigger than a bullet. Not a bullet," he reassured Simmons. "I might be mistaken, probably not, but I could be, but I think it's some sort of electrical device. We need to get it out."

Simmons nodded and then moved to stand next to Ward. "I'm going to have to perform surgery."

Ward nodded, "do what you need to do."

She put him on anesthesia and waited for him to fall asleep before making an incision on his chest. Fitz paled at the sight but forced himself to watch, as he would have to soon step in to disable the device.

Simmons soon located the device and carefully pulled it out, quickly throwing it into a jar in case it went off again in her hands. She then cleaned out the surgery site and began to stitch Ward up again.

Fitz walked over to the device in the jar and removed it, wearing special gloves to protect him in case it went off again. He placed it under a microscope and carefully opened one of the panels, peering inside the device. "I was right." He spoke up. "It's an electrical device, apparently the controls are not on here, they would have to be activated somewhere else." He examined the engravings on it. "Hydra made, I'm almost positive. 18 years old, judging by the date marked on here."

"Are you telling me that Ward has had that in his chest for 18 years?" Simmons paled. "Why has it just activated now?"

Fitz shrugged, "Hydra probably didn't have a reason to activate it until now. He was working for them, or Garrett, whatever, and they didn't know he was helping us until he went in to save Skye and Trip." His voice quieted as he said Trip's name and he closed his eyes, trying to get rid of the sadness that overcame him when he said his deceased friend's name.

Simmons nodded, "I'm doing a full body scan for any more devices."

Fitz nodded and stepped out of the room with Simmons as they ran the x-ray machine again. They stepped back in once it was safe and Simmons went over the results. "Good news, there are no more devices planted in him."

"That's a relief," Fitz breathed, "I do not want to watch another surgery ever again."

Simmons laughed as Coulson walked into the room. "What happened?" He asked as he saw Ward unconscious on the table.

"I did an x-ray to see what caused the sudden heart failure and I found a device implanted in his chest. I performed surgery to remove it before I scanned his entire body for anymore devices. There was only the one, which Fitz has already examined. Hydra made, 18 years old. Enough power to stop his heart."

Coulson looked up at the x-ray they had displayed. He swore as he looked at it. "How old are all of these injuries?"

"By my calculations, I would say approximately 16-18 years old, same as the device. Where would he have gotten all of these?" Simmons asked as she looked at all of the nearly-healed, but never fully healed, broken bones. Not broken enough to cause any pain or enough to see the damage, but enough to still be noticeable on an x-ray.

Coulson hung his head, "when he was with Garrett." He punched the table, "how could S.H.I.E.L.D. have been so blind to this?!"

"No one would've had any reason to suspect Garrett had taken Ward," Simmons reassured their leader.

"Can he still feel the effects?" Coulson asked.

"Psychologically, I'm sure," Simmons nodded. "Physically, no. These are more like scars, just internally. He can't feel them and they aren't doing any damage."

Coulson nodded, "that's good." He turned to Fitz, "do we still have the house arrest bracelet that Skye wore?" Fitz nodded and Coulson continued. "Get it to fit his wrist. He'll recover here while I figure out what to do with him."

Yeah, yeah, I caved, I updated. 😂