WE HAVE NO IDENTITY HERE, NOT FOR US.
Dec. 22nd, 2014 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wolfintheherd posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
therearenostringsattachedThis is what Grant Ward remembers.
He remembers agent 33, Kara. SHIELD agent level nine. It's enough that he could put a gun to the head of an enterprising hacker and make him find out enough about her to hold over her head. To help her find strengths and weaknesses. She's not level nine anymore, she's expired and neither of them are good people. Budapest, Sudan, hell there were protege moments with people that John Garrett despised.
Here's what he doesn't remember. John Garrett's face.
The good, the bad, the ugly, the desperate. It fades. It all fades. He remembers the name, he knows there are confusing feelings associated with it, but he can't remember his face.
Face, faces there's agent 33 and that's her face that's important here. Popping three vicodin pills he resisted the urge to embrace satisfaction over how his body was performing. He had to compartmentalize it and not share it with the woman going under the knife today. Zemo's doctors were working on her.
They had been for several hours.
He leaned against the window, arms crossed over his chest just in time to watch her buck against the bed frame. The doctors worked rapidly, yelling at each other in German before he pressed a gloved hand against the glass just in time for a nurse to slide a curtain over it.
minutes passed before a nervous man appeared in the doorway, ringing his hands.
"She's stable sir, we're going to attack it again tomorrow. There was...a complication."
"What kind of a complication?"
"It's ... in short the agents used have fused to her skin. We can take the time to detach it but it will take several surgeries."
He'd expected something like that he supposed (had he?) This was payment for her skill and his, for his...burden and hers. For taking Zemo's men and training them to be something better. It was easier to think about that, to think tactics and military and..." Hell I could probably perform the surgery if I'd been watching closer.
"I'll see her."
It's easier to live in the now. That's what Grant Ward knows. Sitting beside his partner's bed, attention divided between the television and her bed, watching the monitors and her bandaged face.
He remembers agent 33, Kara. SHIELD agent level nine. It's enough that he could put a gun to the head of an enterprising hacker and make him find out enough about her to hold over her head. To help her find strengths and weaknesses. She's not level nine anymore, she's expired and neither of them are good people. Budapest, Sudan, hell there were protege moments with people that John Garrett despised.
Here's what he doesn't remember. John Garrett's face.
The good, the bad, the ugly, the desperate. It fades. It all fades. He remembers the name, he knows there are confusing feelings associated with it, but he can't remember his face.
Face, faces there's agent 33 and that's her face that's important here. Popping three vicodin pills he resisted the urge to embrace satisfaction over how his body was performing. He had to compartmentalize it and not share it with the woman going under the knife today. Zemo's doctors were working on her.
They had been for several hours.
He leaned against the window, arms crossed over his chest just in time to watch her buck against the bed frame. The doctors worked rapidly, yelling at each other in German before he pressed a gloved hand against the glass just in time for a nurse to slide a curtain over it.
minutes passed before a nervous man appeared in the doorway, ringing his hands.
"She's stable sir, we're going to attack it again tomorrow. There was...a complication."
"What kind of a complication?"
"It's ... in short the agents used have fused to her skin. We can take the time to detach it but it will take several surgeries."
He'd expected something like that he supposed (had he?) This was payment for her skill and his, for his...burden and hers. For taking Zemo's men and training them to be something better. It was easier to think about that, to think tactics and military and..." Hell I could probably perform the surgery if I'd been watching closer.
"I'll see her."
It's easier to live in the now. That's what Grant Ward knows. Sitting beside his partner's bed, attention divided between the television and her bed, watching the monitors and her bandaged face.
no subject
Date: 2014-12-24 03:16 am (UTC)It's not like having a face. It feels... above my face. Like a mask. It looks weird, doesn't it? To talk without moving my lips.
[it feels weird too. Stifling.]
no subject
Date: 2014-12-24 03:26 am (UTC)[His mouth fails on her name.] ...In Puerto Rico we'll pick up your training. Weapons this time.
...There are ways to heal you faster.
[The serums.]
no subject
Date: 2014-12-24 03:31 am (UTC)[But she gave an obedient nod, frowning behind the mask. She liked weapons at least. And was good with them. A sharp shooter and dead eye with guns.]
Faster? You mean like the serum you tested? [The one where you forget things sometimes?]
no subject
Date: 2014-12-24 03:38 am (UTC)What he does do is cross the room again to remove a plastic box and set it on the table. There are several vials.]
This is the same serum they used on the Winter Soldier.
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Date: 2014-12-24 03:46 am (UTC)[But he walked off to a box, and she pushed herself to get up, stand steady a moment, and come over to look, curious.]
Do you think I need... something like this? That I am not strong enough on my own? [a curious tone, not accusing, but wanting to know. Did he think her weak? That to better herself she needed a serum? She would take it if he said she should. Maybe. ....Maybe maybe. But she liked to think she was skilled on her own.]
no subject
Date: 2014-12-24 03:49 am (UTC)He faced that, he faced it head on and hard. Did he think that?]
.....I don't know.
[His voice is soft.] I don't. I'm...sorry. I don't know you're strong aren't you? Can you?
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Date: 2014-12-24 04:35 am (UTC)I... want to know if you think I could be stronger. Can you make me stronger? We've already trained. I'm a fast study. I'm good at what I do, aren't I? [more firmly now.] I'm weak right now. This... [she waved a hand at her face] This has me weak right now, but I can own it. Train me. If... I let you down, maybe I can... try this.
[her eyes studied them though, watchful. They were amazing, if they worked.] Where... did you get them anyhow?
no subject
Date: 2014-12-24 04:43 am (UTC)...I've been selling them. [Someone is dodging the question because he can't remember.] That's how I made the money for this place. Let other eggheads figure them out.
[He looked pained, reaching out to touch her hair before withdrawing.] ....You'll train. I'll push you hard and you'll...
We'll do it.
[And then if she didn't want that she could join him.
He smiled weakly.] Go back to bed.
no subject
Date: 2014-12-24 04:49 am (UTC)Good, keep doing that. I'll train. I can prove to you that I'm worth your time.
[she wanted to impress him. Make him proud of her. She felt useless right now. She had to make that up to him later]
[The touch was a surprise, but as he drew away she nodded to the order. Frowning behind the mask.] Alright...
no subject
Date: 2014-12-24 04:50 am (UTC)I think you're beautiful Masque.
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Date: 2014-12-24 04:54 am (UTC)You say that now, but I know it's a lie. Thank you anyhow.
no subject
Date: 2014-12-24 04:56 am (UTC)It feels ...good to finally see you with an identity.
no subject
Date: 2014-12-24 05:00 am (UTC)[she sat down with a huff, shoulders slumped a bit, tired.] I feel the holes in my memory still, but I feel more whole now.
...Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2014-12-24 05:03 am (UTC)...But you should rest now.
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Date: 2014-12-24 05:05 am (UTC)I owe you for more then that. It makes no difference to me.
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Date: 2014-12-24 05:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-12-24 05:16 am (UTC)[But she curled up and found herself easily going to sleep again. Thoughts fading out of training and working hard. She needed to be stronger.]