Something Worth Saving

Chapter 18

"Katrina shouldn't be going in," Skye remarked as she stood in the lab with Ward and FitzSimmons. "It should be May or me. I'm more experienced, at least."

Ward smirked as he tied his tie and FitzSimmons handed him his icer. "Don't tell me you're jealous."

Skye rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "You wish."

Ward shrugged and accepted the icer, tucking it into the inside of his suit.

Katrina appeared in the doorway a moment later in a floor-length red gown that complimented her fiery red hair perfectly. She looked down at her gown. "I feel ridiculously overdressed."

Skye looked up and smiled in reassurance. "You look great."

Katrina smiled. "Thank you." She turned to Ward. "Are you ready to go?"

Ward nodded and walked towards her and led her to the car. He opened the passenger seat door for her and walked around to Lola's driver seat.

Katrina waved at the rest of the team as she and Ward pulled out of the base and towards the gala. "This is a nice car," she said in appreciation as she looked around.

"It's Coulson's pride and joy," Ward explained. "We usually use it for undercover missions like this, though I'm surprised he's letting me drive it." He turned to look at her and noticed that her brow was scrunched in confusion. "What is it?"

She shook her head. "Sorry, it's just that my powers either tell me if someone is an Inhuman. Usually it's either Inhuman or not an Inhuman. But with you, I can't get any reading at all."

"Why do you think that is?" Ward asked, confused.

Katrina shook her head. "I don't know."

Ward cleared his throat as they pulled up to the mansion. He parked the car and walked around to her side. He held out his arm. "Ready, Mrs. Johnson?"

She nodded and took a deep breath as she linked her arm with his. "As I'll ever be."

They walked in and handed their invitations to the two men guarding the front entrance. After looking over the invitations, the men opened up the doors for them. Katrina gasped as they walked inside and saw all of the decorations in the foyer. They made their way towards the main dining hall, where the party was.

Ward leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Anything?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. The party started half an hour ago, shouldn't he be here?"

Ward shrugged as he led her to the dance floor to blend in. "You would think so."

Katrina took his hand and placed the other hand by his neck. Her eyes closed and then all of the sudden snapped open.

"Katrina?"

"There is fire inside of you, waiting to escape," she said in a haunted tone.

"What the hell does that mean?" Ward looked at her like she was crazy.

"I don't know," she shook her head in disbelief. "This has never happened before."

Ward took a deep breath, anxious as to what her warning might mean. He then shook his head and started to dance. "Let's not worry about it right now, okay? We'll worry about this when we get back. For now," he spun her like all the other pairs on the floor were doing, "let's just stay focused."

She nodded and the pair danced for a few songs before Katrina spoke up again. "He's here."

"Where?"

"Outside. In the garden," she said, thinking over the blueprints that she had seen back at the base.

"Alright," he rested his hand on her back and led her towards the exit. They ran into Jacob Reynolds on their way out, Thomas' brother. Ward cursed internally but put a smile on his face. He held out a hand to shake. "Thank you so much for the wonderful evening. I'm sorry we couldn't stay longer, but I'm afraid the babysitter called and the little one is acting up."

The man smiled understandingly. "I've been in the same position when mine were little. Thank you for coming."

Katrina smiled cheerfully as she shook hands with him. "I had a wonderful time, thank you."

They said their goodbyes and Ward and Katrina walked out of the mansion and towards the garden, evading the guards. "That went better than I thought it would," Ward remarked.

Katrina chuckled. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack."

"You did fine," he shook his head as he led them through the garden gate.

They spotted Thomas sitting on one of the benches, smoking his cigar. The pair advanced towards him and Ward put his arm out to keep Katrina behind him. "Thomas Reynolds?" Ward asked.

The man turned towards them with a smile before he, all of the sudden, fell to the ground. Ward ran over to him and found a gunshot wound on the man's back. He swore loudly and ran back to Katrina, moving her so she was out of the line of fire. He pulled out his icer. "Hydra got here before we did. Looks like they're not even trying to weaponize the Inhumans anymore. Stay here."

He walked out of the shadows and fired in the direction of the gunshot. He wasn't sure if he had hit anything until he heard a loud thud of someone falling off of the roof.

Just as he did that, a group of five Hydra agents advanced on him. He rolled his eyes and knocked out two with his icer. They fell to the ground with a thud and the other three men ran at him.

Ward aimed a kick at one of the men's chests and he staggered backwards, enabling Ward to punch another man in the jaw, drawing blood. Before he could take down the third man, the man grabbed him from behind and put him in a choke hold. Ward grabbed the man's arms and flipped him over his shoulder, throwing him to the ground and then shooting him with his icer. Ward then turned to shoot the last man still standing, but he had grabbed Katrina and held a gun against her temple. "Put the gun down or she dies."

Ward dropped his gun to the ground with a sigh and raised his arms in surrender.

Katrina closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath before lifting her leg and kicking the man behind her in the groin. He stumbled back and she stepped out of his hold, punching him hard in the face.

Ward picked up his gun and iced the man as he fell to the ground.

"Ow!" Katrina shook her hand furiously. "That hurts, the movies did not tell me that."

Ward chuckled. "You did well. Come on, we have to get out of here."

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Katrina stood by herself in the med-bay as she searched the cabinets for disinfectant for her hand that had managed to get all scraped up as she fought with the man who had been trying to put a gun to her head.

She heard a knock on the door and turned when she saw Lincoln standing in the doorway. "Need help with that?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine, I can do this." She turned back to the disinfectant and knocked it over in her haste.

Lincoln reached down and grabbed it before it hit the ground. "I am a doctor, you know."

He took her hands in his and gently started to disinfect her wounds. Katrina shook her head. "I don't need other people to help me. I should be the one helping other people. I can take care of myself."

"Well," Lincoln said as he finished wrapping her hands, "you're part of a team now. We look after our own."

He let go of her hands and she instantly missed the warmth his hand had provided. She rested her hands in her lap and looked down. "Thank you," she whispered.

Lincoln shot her a smile and nodded once, before leaving the med-bay and returning to the team.

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