The Avenger’s Soul

3rd Party POV

Coulson and Trip were trapped in their vehicle while a soldier pounded at the window but he had now been joined by one pounding at the back door.

"Time for the guns?" Trip asked.

Coulson unholstered his and checked the clip.

"Time for the guns," he confirmed as he lifted the gun to point at the soldier at the window, but the soldier stopped moving as a message appears in his eye. It said: Default Directive, it blinks read showing he understood.

"Stay!" Coulson said as the soldier paused his pounding.

All the soldiers around the vehicle in fact had stopped and are tense then start to stand up after getting their new orders.

"Stay," Coulson repeated as more messages come up, it now says: Default Directive; Defend John Garrett at all costs. This one flashes read too and the soldiers start to move back.

"Good boy!" Coulson commented.

The soldiers quickly get off the vehicle and walk back into the building.

"They're off to defend Garrett," Trip said.

"And lead me right to him. Now that we're inside go contact armed forces, make some noise on the way out." He started to get out of the truck but thought of something and leaned back in. "Trip, if the rest of us don't make it, I still want this place to burn."

"I prefer you make it, sir," Trip replied.

"Me, too," Coulson said as he got out and Trip slid into the driver's seat.

*****

Ward's POV

"The compound's been hit. Raina and Quinn took off, we need to take action, now. What are my orders?" I said as I walked up to my former SO.

He seemed serene about it all.

"That's up to you, son," he told me.

"Wake up! Come back to reality, John!" I exclaimed. This was insane. Ever since he had injected the serum into his body he had been acting like a lunatic! "What do you need me to do?" I demanded to know.

Garrett just gave me a big smile.

"You've already done it."

I looked at him at a loss. What the hell was he talking about! Suddenly a cellphone rings and Garrett looked at the display then over to Mike.

"It's your handler. Probably to tell me what the soldiers are seeing," he said as he put the phone to his ear.

"Yeah?"

I could hear a voice on the other end but couldn't make out who it was. I looked at Garrett as he smiled and glanced at me.looks at Ward and says her name teasingly.

"Skye," he said, teasingly as he wiggled his brows at me. I resisted the urge to hiss at him as my heart started to race at the mention of her name. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Mike also looking at Garret in shock.

"You sound different on the phone...huskier," Garret commented and this time I let out a low growl. Who did he think he was to talk to her like that! She was mine! I really wished I could hear both sides of the conversation.

"No, I'm not too concerned. You see, if anyone but the assigned handler gives a directive to one of my men, well, kaboom," Garret replied to whatever Skye had said. "Phil's around? Great." He actually sounded excited and I rolled my eyes looking away in disgust. "We actually have a lot to talk about. Oh, and I wanted you to know – your scientist friends –" I glanced up at this, knowing that whatever he said next was likely to only increase Skye's hatred of me.

"They were brave until their last breath."

I looked away as Garrett took the cellphone away from his ear and hung up.

He then leaned over to me.

"Raina told me how special Skye is. I know you've seen that from the start. You want orders? Get her," he told me.

I gave him a small smirk.

"Thank you."

*****

Skye's POV

I paced back and forth with my cellphone in one hand and my walkie-talkie in the other. Zeller; as I had discovered was the man's name, sat in a chair in front of me, looking extremely grumpy. I couldn't really blame the guy as I had strapped my backpack to his chest.

"Looks like the back entrance to the factory floor is on the south side," I said into my walkie-talkie.

"Roger that," Coulson replied. I sent a silent prayer out into the universe in case anyone was listening to protect him. He was the closest thing I had to a father figure and I didn't want to lose him to someone like John Garret.

I stopped my thoughts in their tracks before they could spiral out of control and turned to look at Zeller.

"I have to hit "snooze" on this every minute to keep that from blowing," I told him as I pointed to my backpack.

"I will die before talking, but there's nothing to tell. There's no way of controlling the soldiers unless there's an actual handler at the machine," he told me.

"I'm not interested in that. I'm more interested in why you're willing to die for HYDRA!" I said.

He scoffed and looked away from me.

"Are you a true believer? Is HYDRA the plucky little family you never had? Or are you here because of the incentives program?" I asked him.

This got his attention, he quickly looked up at me. Before he could say anything though I heard the door behind me open.

"She's not going to kill you," a voice called out and I quickly turned at the sound of Ward's voice. He was standing in the doorway pointing his gun at me. "She had a chance to kill me before and couldn't do it." He started walking deeper into the room. "And she hates me...a lot."

"I feel sorry for you, betraying the only people who gave you a chance at being a decent human being. Fitz was a hero because he still wanted to give you that chance after everything. But, some people are just born evil, I guess," I told him as I clenched my jaw. I wanted so badly to unleash my powers at him but I had to stick to the plan. Not to mention, one wrong move and I would be back on Whitehall's operating table and that was something I never wanted to happen again...

"Yeah. Yeah, maybe they are. I've learned things about you, Skye, history, things you'll want to know," Ward said as he started walking closer to me. "You and I aren't that different."

"You're not the evil I was referring to. Garrett is evil. You're just – weak – doing anything you're told. I hope Garrett orders you to walk into traffic!" I said as I laughed at him.

"You're right, Skye. You woke up a weakness inside me. And for the first time in a while, I wanted something for myself." I resisted the urge to step back as he continued to move in closer. "Maybe I'll just take what I want, wake up something inside of you." I shuddered at his words as I was reminded of all the Hydra men who had said similar things to me in the past. But now was not the time to lose focus. I refused to let him get to me.

"I'm not afraid of you, Ward," I told him, stepping up to him, my face void of all emotion.

"You're not going to kill us with the bomb. You'd go, too," he pointed out.

"No. I have a weapon much better than a bomb that will absolutely destroy you!" I told him with a smirk. He raised his eyebrows, clearly interested.

"And why's that?"

"Because you slept with her, and she's really pissed off," I said as May suddenly popped up and punched the side of his face. Did the sight bring me joy? Yup, absolutely it did.

I watched in satisfaction as Ward was knocked off balance and May used that to her advantage to kick him through a door. Despite how badly I wanted to watch May take award down, I had a job to do, so I turned back around to Zeller.

"Let's talk about incentives!" I told him as I grabbed him by his coat and pulled him off the chair as he tried to protest.

*****

3rd Person POV

"Hey-ho, friends! The enemy approaches!"

Garrett looked over at Mike who was standing next to him.

"Check the perimeter," he ordered.

Mike nodded and walked away.

"Careful, now, or they'll win the day," the noisemaker continued to call out as Coulson snuck up behind Garret.

"Hi, John," he said.

Garrett quickly turned around to find Coulson standing behind him. Coulson then proceeded to punch Garrett in the face, but the punch didn't seem to phase him.

"Hi, Phil," Garrett said with a smirk as he hit Coulson in the abdomen sending him flying a good twenty feet back, landing hard and making him drop his gun.

"Well, that's new," Coulson commented as he pulled himself over to his gun - only to find a set of feet standing next to it. He followed the feet up to see Fury standing there, hands in his pockets, not looking bothered at all.

"Sir?" Coulson said.

"You don't have to call me "sir", Coulson. Look at me. I'm dressed like I live under a bridge!" Fury pointed out.

Coulson remained on the floor staring up at him confused.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Well, Simmons turned me on to that old-timey tracker that Fitz left on your bus," Fury explained.

Soldiers suddenly appeared behind Garrett and began firing at Fury and Coulson.

"I went to great pains to make sure you didn't die the first time," Fury said as Coulson finally scrambled to his feet.

"Well, now's probably not the best time, but...I'd like to have a lengthy conversation with you about that," Coulson commented. More shots were fired and Coulson grimaced. "It might get loud."

"And I owe you that. But right now, we owe Garrett a punch in the teeth, wouldn't you say?" Fury replied. Coulson sighed and nodded. Fury pulled something out from behind his back. "This...packs a pretty good punch!" He said smugly.

Coulson took the large gun from Fury and turned it on causing the chamber of the gun to glow yellow.

"I know what it does," he replied, remembering the gun as the same one he had used during the Battle of Los Angeles.

Coulson walked out from behind the tanks and fired on the guards who had appeared. He took out two guards, then turned and took out two more, Garrett standing in the center of all this giving Coulson a smirk the whole time. Coulson quickly took out all the soldiers but then the gun appeared to run out of power. Fury appeared at that moment, and proceeded to empty the clip of his gun into Garrett's torso. The shots all hit Garrett and he stumbled backwards with each shot. He fell to his knees and Fury stopped firing, confident that the matter was resolved. Garrett looked up with an evil grin, and Coulson and Fury shared an "oh, shit" look.

*****

Skye's POV

"We're running out of time," I said as I walked into a room with Zeller and one of the guards. "Tell the man what they have on you!" I told him sternly.

*****

Coulson's POV

"Fury," Garrett said as he got to his feet. "Well, hell..."

We all looked over as Mike rejoined us and went to stand near Garrett.

"When was the last time anyone saw a tag team wrestling match with four dead guys?" Garrett said with a laugh.

"I only see on dead guy in here," I told him.

Garrett turned and looked at Mike.

"Oh, the power's all on this side of the room, fellas," he said before turning to face us again. "Phil, I'm surprised you'd try and stop me. Of course I don't blame you, Nick. You haven't seen the big picture, the big bang, the timeless frozen ocean, but Phil here has. We share a bond. We're blood brothers," John rambled.

Fury and I just stared at him, I smiled softly at the confused look on Fury's face.

"You didn't tell me he'd gone this crazy!" Fury said.

"He's really stepped it up a notch," I told him with a shrug.

*****

Skye's POV

I held my gun at Zeller as I stooped down to a guard out cold on the floor and took his keys. I walked past Zeller to a doorway and used the keys to open the door. Inside there was a woman lying on a bed, she stirred when she heard the door open. Zeller looked in and his face lit up with excitement as the woman sat up.

"Kyle?" She said.

"Oh, baby!" He exclaimed as he hurried over to get and gave her a kiss and a hug. "I'm so sorry for what they did to you!" I heard him saying as I continued down the hall opening more doors.

"What are you looking for?" He asked as he and his wife walked over to me.

I opened the next door and smiled in relief as I saw Ace sitting on a bed.

"Our Ace in the hole," I said as I rushed over to him.

*****

Coulson's POV

"You remember that speech you used to give us, Nick, about how one man can accomplish anything once he realizes he can be something bigger? Well, now I am," Garrett commented. I rolled my eyes. That was not how the speech went.

"A part – a part of something bigger!" Fury corrected him, clearly offended.

Garrett looked confused.

"Is that how it went?" He asked.

"Not a great listener," I told Fury.

"If you tell me this whole HYDRA path thing that you took is because you misheard my damn "one man" speech..." Fury started to say.

"I am the key to the future of the universe. I'm the origin of all things!" Garrett exclaimed.

Fury looked bored as he turned to me.

"You got it, right?" He asked.

"Totally. Loud and clear," I assured him.

Garrett pointed a finger at Mike then made a sweeping motion with his arm and finger so it pointed to Fury and I – Mike focused on us. His eye glowing red as he lifted his arm, the missile launcher appearing.

3rd Person POV

While this was all happening , Skye was speaking to Ace. She stood up and faced Zeller.

"No, come on, please, I –" he started to say as she opened up the backpack and reached inside. She showed it to Zeller; it was the big Incredible Hulk toy Mike had gotten for Ace. Zeller looked at it and rolled his eyes.

"Aw, man!" He complained as he realized he had been duped.

Skye took the figure to Ace & gave it to him as she kneeled down in front of him.

"Here. Okay, Ace, I need you to give me a message, okay? Something your father would know could only come from you. I need to prove I have you," she told the young boy.

"It won't matter. I've already told you, there's no way to communicate with Deathlok from in here," Zeller told her.

"I don't need to," Skye told him, standing up to face him and holding up her cellphone, to show a picture of Mike's POV. "I've been communicating with him the whole time."

"Fury was teaching us something you didn't want to hear, John, 'cause you only think about yourself," Coulson told Garrett. "That's the difference between your side and our side, and why we're always gonna win."

"What lesson, Phil? Please enlighten me," John said.

Mike took his eyes down away from Fury and Coulson as a new message appeared in his vision. It said: dad, what are we? The message locked in red showing Mike had seen it. Mike looked over at Garrett and another message appeared under the first one. This one said: We're a team.

Suddenly the line around Garrett goes from white to red as Mike targeted him with the missiles. He fired one of them directly into Garrett's chest sending him flying backwards and hitting the wall hard as Coulson and Fury stared. Garrett stirred, coughed out smoke and faced Mike. His face and body bloody and singed.

"You can't do this, Mike!" He choked out.

Mike just stared down at him with cold fury.

"I order you to stand down!" Garrett demanded.

Mike continued walking toward Garrett, who had spotted a gun in the hand of one of the downed soldiers. He started to try and pull himself toward the gun.

"You must obey me! You need me to translate the words of creation!" Garrett cried out desperately as he made it to the gun, his fingertips on it. "You don't want to do this, Mike!" He added as he saw that Mike was now standing right above him. "Tell him, Phil!"

Fury and Coulson watched without emotion as they stared down at Garrett.

"Mr. Peterson's free to do whatever he wants," Coulson stated.

Mike glared down at Garrett and with a grimace he lifted his right foot and brought it down hard on Garrett's head, the mechanics in his leg whirring as he did so. Coulson and Fury, both backed their heads away and grimace at the crunching sound. Then Fury nodded a couple of times then moved in closer to Coulson.

"You think he learned his lesson?" He asked.

"He learned something," Coulson commented.

*****

Skye's POV

A few hours later I went to join Mike as he stood on a hill a little ways away looking down on the complex. Together we watched one of the soldiers leading Ace out, who was still holding on to his Hulk action figure. I smiled as I saw his face light up as he ran to a woman and gave her a hug.

"Why don't you go to him?" I asked as I leaned over to Mike.

"I don't want him to see what I've become," he replied.

"He won't care about your burns!" I admonished him.

"That's not what I mean," he said as he looked at me and we shares a long look before he lowered his head and made to walk away.

"Coulson said to bring you in," I stated, though I didn't really have any intentions of doing so.

"You can access my hardware and watch my every move. Go ahead. I'll only be making amends for my actions," he said as he looked into my eyes. I nodded at him.

"Whatever you did, you did it for Ace," I told him.

"And what I do now? That'll be for him, too." He turned to walk away before suddenly stopping and glancing back at me. "By the way, I never thanked you," he added.

"For what?" I asked confused.

"For including Ace in your 4th of July thing, it meant a lot to me," he said as he winked. I blushed.

"I - I don't know what you're talking about," I said, though I could tell from the grin on his face that he knew exactly who the "Avenging Angel" was but at least I could trust him to keep it a secret.

*****

I stood next to Trip, Coulson, and May nearly shoulder to shoulder as we watched the Bus's ramp lowering until a head appeared, followed by the sadly smiling Jemma Simmons. I ran over to her and hugged her tightly as Coulson put a hand on her shoulder.

"Fitz, is he okay?" I asked worriedly. "Please tell me he's okay!" I exclaimed.

Simmons looks at them with tears in her eyes.

"He's alive," she whispered, though I didn't like the tone of her voice.

"What is this place?" May suddenly asked.

"First thing I found in that box was these coordinates," Coulson replied, referring to the little black box Fury had given him after stepping down and making Coulson the new Director of Shield - not that Shield was at all close to recovering from Hydra yet. "Another secret base?" He suggested.

A man's voice calls out and they all look toward him – we don't see him yet.

"I call it The Playground, although, technically it doesn't have a name because, technically, it doesn't exist," a man's voice called out and we all looked toward him. My eyes widened in shock.

"It being a secret base and all," the man finished saying.

"Eric?" I said as I rushed over and hugged him as I had Jemma.

"Billy...Koenig. Agent of Shield," he replied as he hugged me back with a flustered blush on his face before lifting up his lanyard.

"Although I totally understand the confusion. Eric passed away, sadly, but it's great to have company, finally, and I did not mind minding this place," Billy commented.

"Agent Coulson," Coulson said as he went to shake hands with Billy.

"I know. I know. And it is an honor to meet you, sir," he hurried up the ramp to shake Coulson's hand. "I'll get your lanyard shortly," he stopped shaking hands and looked to the others in the room. "For the rest of you, lanyards will be handed out on a case by case basis. Can't be too careful with all those HYDRA threats still out there causing trouble. That's why we're here. Get you up and running and back fighting the good fight, which is gonna be cool." Coulson smiles and laughed at bit as I smirked at Billy, knowing the secret behind the lanyards. "I know we don't have much, but what we have is yours, sir," Billy told Coulson.

"Thank you," Coulson replied.

"So...Where would you like to start?"

*****

AN - ok I'm thinking I will be spending the next few chapters merging the DC story into this one as well as maybe throwing in some Harry Potter maybe Vampire Diaries (since I was planning to make a story on that as well and cld totally just toss that into the multiverse doppelgänger situation I have going on here) and then the question is whether I include supernatural (which I'm not sure if I'll write a story on since I'd have a LOT of seasons to catch up on before I cld do that but I do like Sam & Dean ) and wondering if I should include my Charmed story in the mix (which I do still have a ton of plans for and wouldn't necessarily want to give spoilers to but cld make work) thing is I'm planning to have almost all her soulmates get captured with her by hydra and she meets her doppelgänger and then discovers who her soulmates are etc but I cld also hold off on introducing some characters till later and keep the kidnapping adventure to just the avenger/dc soulmates? Or do y'all want the whole big clusterfuck all at once? Cuz I can't decide if I shld just throw everyone in there or introduce a little more naturally a few at a time like I did at the beginning with her other mates?

Also - wondering how ppl feel about Ward. I've got two options - he's either joining Whitehall in his kidnapping and experiments on Skye or he's the one who reaches out to Shield and tells them where to find her - let me know which y'all wld prefer? Either option is fine - and then part b to that question wld be whether or not you think Ward shld be redeemable in this story and like when he becomes HIVE does he become a soulmate? Or does he just stay a villain? Let me know ur thoughts! I'll be trying to work on the next chapter later today etc I'm just trying to finalize plot ideas