Dec 17, 2024
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"Do you have anything to do with the resistance?... Well, I do."
THAT'S MY BOY, THAT’S MY GRANT WARD.
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AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"Do you have anything to do with the resistance?... Well, I do."
THAT'S MY BOY, THAT’S MY GRANT WARD.
Here I am crying over Framework!Ward. Why am I crying over him? I have so many questions for myself
16. Agents of S.T.A.K.E.
To read from beginning click here.
*****
Leon, Mexico
The market place was stuffed with people shifting from one shop to another. The vendors were advertising their products grabbing people’s attention. Most of the shops had various leather goods making the whole street smell of leather. A couple shuffled through the other customers. The woman had long blonde hair, dropping below her shoulders. The man was dark skinned and had buzz cut. They stopped from time to time to examine the products in the shop but didn’t buy any.
“How are things between you and Hunter?” asked the man.
“Distance is our boon. Its going well recently” Bobbi chuckled. Her face retained the laugh but her eyes hardened, “Trip, 10 o’ clock.”
Trip casually took a wall hanging from a shop and made a show of showing it to Bobbi. It slipped from his hand and fell down. As he bent down to pick up, Bobbi pulled out her electric batons. Trip pulled out the gun he had hidden in his boots. The two advanced in the direction Bobbi had pointed out earlier. A man took a run seeing the two.
“Ward. Suspect is coming in your direction” Trip said into his comms taking after the fleeing man.
The two agents followed their target to a dead end.
“Bakshi, surrender.”
Bakshi’s men had surrendered the duo. They advanced on them allowing Bakshi to escape. Bobbi striked the nearby man with her baton. She twisted his arm making him drop his gun. Trip shot two men with the I.C.E.R but more came flooding in. A woman tried to punch Bobbi from her side. Bobbi held her and kicked her in the abdomen. She hit her in the head with her baton. Another thug attacked her from behind. He locked her cutting off her escape. Bobbi thrust backwards with her batons electrocuting him.
“Ward. Backup” Bobbi said into her comms as he grabbed her I.C.E.R and shot two thugs.
Trip smashed the back of the I.C.E.R into a thug’s head. He grabbed the foot of another and pushed him to the ground. Trip delivered a punch to the opponent’s head. A person grabbed him from behind. He struggled to get away but he was overpowered. Suddenly, the grip loosened and Trip gasped for breath.
Ward arrived at the scene to aid the two. He saw Trip struggling against his attacker. As Ward went to help him, he was stopped by a woman. He fired her gun at him. He ducked and grabbed her arms. He twisted and locked her, making her drop the gun. Ward noticed two more thugs running at him. He fired his I.C.E.R at them. He knocked out the woman and ran to Trip. He pulled the person who was attacking Trip and took them out.
After taking down their attackers, the three agents boarded the quinjet. Bobbi took off the quinjet while Ward and Tripp settled down.
“I can’t believe we lost him, man.”
“Look who showed up on the radar,” Ward said, showing the tab to Trip. A picture of two men dressed in elegant silk clothing appeared on the screen. “Illegal dealer, known as Grandmaster and Collector”
“These two have resurfaced after a long time.”
“They purchased a golden spectre from a man called Koenig. We can retrace their activities.”
Bobbi called out from the cockpit, “After refuelling, we are following them.”
Ward, Bobbi and Trip went to the S.T.A.K.E base. They had wanted to talk with Coulson but he had done dark leaving Mack in charge. They showed their lead to him and he gave them green light for the mission. They left for the mission as soon as they refuelled. They had followed the lead and tracked The Collector to Puerto Rico. They checked into a hotel room and laid low. The first half of the day passed away eventless. Trip took up his position near the window to look out. His eyes perked up seeing the familiar face in the crowd below.
“Over here” he said, not taking his eyes away from the target.
Bobbi walked over and peered out of the window. She noticed Sunil Bakshi walking down the street. He was accompanied by another man. Ward too joined them. Ward noticed the armed men loitering the street. They were a few feet away from Bakshi but would come to his rescue if needed.
“This time he isn’t escaping us.”
Ward took the stainless-steel tray lying on the hotel table and jumped into the ledge of the window. He quickly descended down with the help of windows and rails. Bakshi had noticed Ward and took off running. As Ward crossed a street, he fired his icer taking out most of Bakshi’s men. He ran in the direction of Bakshi. He ran into the alley and was blocked by three men. As they fired, he held the plate blocking the bullets. He advanced towards them without a flinch. He threw the tray at one man. At the same moment, he pointed his icer in the direction of the third man and pressed the trigger, taking him out. He turned to the other man and fired. Nothing happened. He had run out of bullets. The man shot at Ward who ducked behind a parked van. He grabbed a broken bicycle lying behind the van and threw it at the man. The first thug had recovered. Ward grabbed and headbutted him.
Ward ran in Bakshi’s direction. He saw the fleeing man having nothing but two guards. Ward grabbed the lid of a dustbin and threw it at Bakshi’s feet making him trip. He took out the guards with a couple punches and kicks. He tied up Bakshi and dragged him in the direction of a hidden quinjet.
“Trip. Got hold of Bakshi” Ward said into his comms.
*****
Chapter 17
Bloodbound Chapter 9- Broken Trust
Introduction
The next day Pietro woke up with a heavy head. His head felt like it was being beaten with a hammer. He got up and looked around to realize that he had fallen asleep during the after party in Tony’s couch. He didn’t remember much of it except there was lot of alcohol. He strained his mind to bring back some memories but couldn’t. He just sat there thinking, when Steve called out.
“Morning kid.”
Pietro turned around. Steve was wearing a blue suit and matched it with a blue tie. He was dressed like he was heading out. Pietro looked at the time. Shit I’m late he thought. He had promised Thompson he will be early. His mind suddenly made the connections. Thompson. Feral attack. Alcohol. Steve. Natasha. He did hear Steve talking about him to Natasha. He thought some good might come out of it. Natasha was indeed a Level 6 agent. She can direct the case towards the right side but what if she is angry that he had blabbered.
“Steve, where's Natasha?”
“She left with Wanda last night.”
“Oh.. yeah okay.” She was back here his mind screamed. Did she come back or is my head messed up?
“Get home safe, kid" said Steve as he walked out.
Pietro hurried form Stark Tower to his home. Throughout his ride home he kept thinking about last night. The more he thought the surer he was that it is Natasha. But he couldn’t make up the whole conversation between the two. He got ready and left to the base. When Pietro entered, the agents was eerily silent. The usual buzz of the day wasn't seen. Most of them worked silently. Some hushed conversations were happening here and there. Ward found him and asked him to meet with him and Thompson.
"I'm sorry for being late-"
"It doesn't matter sit down"
Pietro saw that Thompson, Khan and Keller were already in debriefing room. They were standing near the halo table. Even Thompson was missing his dick persona he thought. Is this about last night? His blabbering had landed him and Thompson in trouble he thought but why was Khan and Keller here.
"We got the forensic report. The teeth, it belongs to a woman named Raina"
Pietro would have never believed what he heard if he hasn't seen the feral with his own eyes couple of days ago. He sat there dumb folded. The teeth which looked longer than human’s canine belonged to a woman. She has to be the feral. Something might have happened for her to change into a creature like that. What could possibly make a human change into that he thought.
"I talked with Agent Hand. She agreed that complete investigation has to be carried out. Agent Khan and Agent Keller will be joining us.”
Ward continued, “Four of you track down this woman. Find the reason behind the feral attack.”
The four men nodded and walked out. Khan and Keller went to lab to work with Dr. Benson. Pietro and Thompson searched for her latest activity.
“Suddenly, she has gone completely MIA” said Thompson seeing the computer screen.
“It’s near impossible for a commoner to escape detection for long.”
“Her activities before disappearance might give some clue.”
Pietro changed the algorithm and searched for her before the disappearance. “Everything seems normal. Caught up few stores and couple traffic cameras.”
“Let’s investigate further. I will go to her work place and you meet her family.”
Pietro and Thompson rushed out of the base. While Thompson went to Stark industries, Pietro went to meet Raina’s family. He enquired her friends and relatives trying to place her. But there was no trail. No clue to find out what happened to her. No one noticed anything out of place. It was as if she had vanished. Vanished. He thought about the creature that tried to attack him. It vanished when Thompson shot at it. More like it dusted. If that is Raina then she is not a threat anymore he thought. He has to dig deeper. After investigating he caught up with Thompson for lunch.
“Any luck from your side?” he asked Thompson.
“None. I have been thinking, is Raina the feral we saw two days ago?”
“I thought the same thing. I came up nothing from my side. Something did change her into that thing. People just don’t transform like… like that.”
“We need to find out what caused the transformation and stop it before it happens to someone else”
Pietro had a feeling that this Raina woman wasn’t the root cause. Something kept nagging at the back of his brain and he couldn’t figure out what.
“Let’s meet Benson after lunch.”
When Pietro and Thompson returned to the base, they went straight to the lab to find Benson. He and Keller were discussing about the feral when they entered. The two joined the conversation.
Agent May entered the lab and she asked the three to follow her. When out in the corridor she spoke to Keller.
“Where is Agent Khan?”
“He is searching the archives.”
“Bring him to the briefing room” she said and kept walking. Thompson and Pietro followed her while Keller went in search of Khan. They entered the room to find Mace and Natasha standing there.
“Where are the others?” Mace asked.
“On the way.”
When the others entered May spoke, “We are reassigning the mission to Agent Romanoff. You four will be assisting me in smuggling case.”
“Weren’t Morse and Triplet working on that already?”
“They had to leave for another mission”
“When did they leave? What is the mission?”
“It’s classified. We are having lookout tonight” said May. Khan and Keller nodded in agreement.
“Why were we taken off the case?” argued Thompson.
“Romanoff is having more experience. So, Mace and Romanoff will be taking point” said May.
“I’m the same level as Agent Romanoff. And Mace is-”
“Director’s order. If you want talk to him”
Thompson was shocked. He opened his mouth to speak but Pietro signalled him to stop. Seeing that no one is responding May said, “End of the discussion.”
One by one, the agents filed out of the room. Pietro and Thompson were speechless. They walked out of the debriefing room.
“This is bullshit” swore Thompson.
“This could have been our breakthrough case. Now they want us to play hide and seek in the harbour.”
“Why didn’t you allow me to speak?”
“’Cause they won’t listen to us. We aren’t going to give up on this case.”
“We aren’t?”
“I don’t know about you Thompson but I ain’t” Pietro smiled cheekily.
“Count me in. I want to know what is really behind all this.”
…..
Pietro and Thompson hunted for clues and continued their search in the free time they got. They faced dead ends where ever they turned. To add to the top of that May wasn’t easily pleased. She was tough and determined. She worked them to bones in the smuggling case. The problem was so many sleeper cells were involved that they can’t find the head. May would stop at nothing except cutting of the head and they knew that. Pietro, Thompson and May spent most days near the harbour. But they didn’t see any suspicious activity.
One night, on his way home from harbour Pietro’s car broke down. Thompson hadn’t been posted field activity that day. He called the mechanic to tow his car and took the public transit. He was walking from the metro to his home when a man jumped from behind the dumpster with a knife. He slashed the knife in the air trying to get Pietro. But Pietro moved back to escape the attack. Pietro grabbed him and twisted his hand making him drop the knife. They punched at each other. Pietro’s training gave him the upper hand. He twisted the man’s hand behind his back till he winced in pain. The man reached for knife with his good hand and slashed Pietro on the side with it. Pietro jumped back to distance himself from further attack. The attacker took the advantage to free himself. Pietro kicked the knife out of his hand when the attacker approached him again. Having lost the advantage in the fight, the man started running. Pietro chased him but his bleeding slowed him down. A car came from around the corner, the man got in and the car disappeared into the night.
…..
Pietro was in the emergency ward. The nurse stitched him up and gave him medication. Wanda, Steve and Thompson came to visit him. He talked with his sister and reassured her that he was alright. Steve was concerned and asked Pietro about the attacker.
“I didn’t see him, properly” he lied.
“Say anything you noticed we can track him down.”
“I said I didn’t see properly” replied Pietro a bit irritated.
Steve apologized for pressing on. Pietro talked with Wanda and Thompson but ignored Steve. Wanda left to pay the bill. Steve followed her sensing the tension in the room. Thompson stayed behind as the other two left.
“I need to tell you something. The man who attacked me was Stark’s driver.”
“What? Are you sure?”
Pietro nodded. “Maybe he thought I wouldn’t notice him but I have seen him numerous times. When he escaped, he got in Stark’s car.” Pietro said the number on license plate and Thompson noted it down.
“I think Steve Rogers and Agent Romanoff might be involved too.”
“Woah woah. Stop there. We aren’t going to form conspiracy theory. Only the facts.”
“Okay. Listen to me. The night after we got attacked, I was at Stark’s party. I told Steve about it when I was drunk and then I passed out. When I woke up, I heard him telling it to Romanoff. The next day we were assigned to the case by Ward but when Romanoff intervened, we were re-assigned. There is literally no one working on feral problem. Romanoff can easily cover her trail.”
“Mace is there” pointed out Thompson.
Pietro frowned at him.
“I get what you’re saying. We will get to the bottom of this. Okay?”
“Fine. Nothing is going to stop me from going to the bottom of this.”
Thompson took Pietro’s hand and he held it tightly. “Promise me one thing. You will stay safe, okay?”
“I will” Pietro breathed. He looked at Thompson whose face was only inches from his. His eyes travelled to his lips. Thompson closed the gap between their lips. His lips felt warm against Pietro’s. The kiss was soft and slow. They broke apart after a long kiss.
Bloodbound Chapter 7- Graze with death
Introduction
The whole S.T.A.K.E base was concentrated on the attacks in the city except Agent May and Agent Romanoff. The two were working on the smuggling case in Staten Island. The others hunted for clues but always came up with dead ends. Fitz-Simmons were in west coast and the lab reports were delayed. The agents worked with the best leads they got.
Three months, Thompson asked Pietro for a drink after their shift. He had become Level 6 agent and wanted to celebrate it with Pietro. Both men went out to drink and were enjoying the cheap alcohol and fries. Pietro flagged down the waitress for the next round. The waitress set their bottle on the table.
“Here you go, handsome” she made a pass at Thompson. After she left, he turned to Pietro, “Who doesn’t dig a blond?” he winked. Pietro took a sip of alcohol to hide his face turning red. He felt heat across his cheeks. He wasn’t sure whether it was alcohol or Thompson’s comment.
“Any idea when Fitz-Simmons will return?”
“Nope. But Dr. Benson arrived tonight. We might get some results in few days.”
Pietro nodded as he stuffed his mouth with fries. When they got tipsy, they cut back alcohol and replaced with water since they have work the next day. Pietro had never been more grateful for any other decision in his life. As they drove back home, they heard a man scream. Thompson stopped the car and got out; Pietro followed. The agents ran to the dark alley towards the scream.
Pietro saw a blackish grey creature tearing apart a man. The man was desperately trying to free himself but he couldn’t. The creature was far too powerful. It lifted its head up and looked at them. Even though it was cold, Pietro began to sweat. It resembled human other than the decaying skin and blood red eyes. The creature came barging towards Pietro, ready to attack him. Its teeth and claws were sharp and stained with blood. In that moment, Pietro remembered the teeth that they had got from the previous attack. Pietro shielded his face and prepared for the worst to come.
Pietro heard three shots being fired one after another. He waited for the inevitable attack but nothing came. He slowly opened his eyes. There was nothing in front of him. He turned towards Thompson. He was holding his gun out. He has shot the creature before it attacked Pietro. Pietro was grateful that Thompson was sober enough to take the gun before walking out of the car.
“What the fuck was that?”
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Pietro cursed as he went down to his knees.
Within minutes, the ambulance was there. They carried the man who was still holding onto his life. A medical personal asked if they both were okay. They were shaken up but waved them off.
Pietro and Thompson were sitting in the sofa of the common room with a coffee in each hand. Their S.O Grant Ward called them to his office. As they settled across him, waited from them to start talking.
“Well you aren’t going to believe us. What attacked us looked very much like human. It had human like features but its skin was rotting”
“And it had sharp teeth and claws” added Pietro.
“And blood red eyes.”
Ward face was neutral. He had studied several cases like this. He had prepared himself for any unexpected. He patiently asked them, “Did you see where it went?”
“I shot it. It dusted away” Pietro replied and Thompson nodded in agreement.
Ward raised his eyebrows at the last statement but didn’t say anything. It confirmed the suspicion he had but he didn’t say anything. Instead he turned to Pietro to see what he has to say.
“I closed my eyes. I didn’t see that. But when I opened it wasn’t there.”
Ward nodded gravely. As he started speaking, he was cut of his phone ringing. He attended the call to know why Agent Hand was calling him now. His face turned more worried with each passing minute. The blonds looked at each other and shrugged not knowing what was happening.
After ending the call, Ward turned to them, “I need to leave now. We will discuss it later” he said. He walked to the exit and stopped, “Take a day off and get some rest.” He walked out leaving the two men alone.
The boys can’t believe they were given a day off. They stared at each other in surprise.
“Did he even hear what we said?”
Thompson shook his head defeated. “I can’t believe it. We find a biggest lead for the case and we are given a day off.”
“It’s like he didn’t believe us.”
Once they got in the car, Thompson turned to Pietro, “Do you still believe what we saw?”
“Hundred percent. We were drunk man, but both of us to imagining the same thing is far-fetched” stated Pietro.
Pietro arrived at his home. Wanda had already gone to be bed. He didn’t want to wake her up. He used his spare key and entered. When he locked the door, he felt he was not alone. He thought Wanda must have woke up for a glass of water and turned. But he saw something, not human, creeping near the window. He saw decaying flesh, sharp fangs and blood red eyes staring at him. He screamed. He heard the shattering of the glass followed by a yelp. It was Wanda’s voice and protectiveness overcame his fear. Before he could act, the lights came on. As his eyes adjusted to the lights, he realized that there was no feral; it was just his sister, getting water like he had thought. Any other situation he would have made fun of her saying she looked like a monster but not now, not after what he saw. He was clearly shaken up.
Wanda made her way towards Pietro. She looked concerned. “What happened? You look scared.”
Pietro didn’t reply her; he just pulled her into a tight hug. He imagined what would have happened if there was a feral in his apartment. He couldn’t bring himself to accept the consequences. He has no idea what he will do without his sister. These thoughts brought tears to his eyes. He rubbed it away at the back of his hands before Wanda could notice. After pulling away from the hug, Wanda waited for her brother to open up.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me. I have my own share of weird happening for today.”
Pietro was too caught up with his near-death experience that his sister’s dialogue didn’t register in his mind then. He told her about what happened after he left the bar with Thompson; about his encounter with feral. Wanda listened intently and consoled her brother. She made him hot beverage and asked him get some rest.
The twins went to their room and hit the bed. They both had their respective share of weirdness for a day. Sleep came as blessing and they slipped into deep slumber.
Chapter 8
"I believe that you want to do this, not that you can."
Is this- this might be- yep, this is the first time I’ve ever written (sort of) skyeward.
“Ibelieve you want to do this, not that you can.” The pity in MadameHydra’s voice is almost worse than the impotent effort makingGrant’s arm shake. Almost.
Hegrips his wrist with his free hand, holding the pistol level, aimeddead center of her forehead. She doesn’t look worried. And whyshould she? He’s spent the last thirty seconds trying to curl his index finger inward, depress the trigger, rid the worldof this bitch.
Onlyhe can’t.
I really really like what they did with Ward here. I know that some people is mad because it hits too close to a redemption arc, but I like it because it’s rewarding for us without making the characters troubled/feeling like they have to forget what happened before for what is happening now. Win-win situation.