Chapter One (Meeting the Demon)

Skye sighed as she entered Coulson's office, wondering just what on Earth he wanted from her. It was the middle of a quiet afternoon, which of fact she had been enjoying. Until Coulson broke the silence.

"What's up?" she asked nonchalantly, plopping down in the chair in front of the Director's desk. "I thought that it was going to be a quiet day."

The Director smiled and shook his head, "Don't worry, no missions today." he began. "But there will be one the day after tomorrow. A recon mission. Sneak into a Hydra base, upload a Trojan Horse program into their servers, and steal the info. It's not much."

"Then why call me in now? Why not wait until tomorrow?" Skye asked.

"Because this mission requires a bit more firepower than normal. The servers are stored in a subzero freezer of sorts and a normal agent can't get into it. It's a form of protection." Coulson explained. He sat a file down on his desk and slid it towards Skye, "I want you to go talk to the agent I want to send with you and Lincoln on the mission."

Skye frowned and picked up the folder, "Another gifted?" she questioned, opening the folder. She came face to face with a picture of a gruff-looking man who looked like he was pissed for some reason. His black hair was spiked slightly and stubble covered his face. Her stomach dropped and she looked up at Coulson, "Wait, isn't this?" she began.

Coulson nodded, "It is, but he's the only guy we have that has the firepower to get into the server room, literally. This isn't his normal kind of mission, so I don't know how he'll approach this." he explained.

Skye read the beginnings of the file: 'Name: Ward, Grant Douglas. Codename: Hellfire'. She gulped and shook her head, "Do you really think that this is a good idea, sir?" she asked. "He's not the most person-friendly guy. There's a reason why the agents on this base call him 'Demon'."

"Don't let their rumors get to you, Skye." Coulson began. "He's not that bad of a guy. Yes, he's rough around the edges and tends to stay away from people. The agents that call him that have had the unfortunate luck of seeing his bad side.

His powers are dark in nature. Some kind of family curse that links his genetics to hell. He's able to conjure hellfire and it runs in his veins. And that, for some reason, gives him one hell of temper. It's not a pretty sight if he's pissed off. He's had to been contained a few times. The only reason why I don't have him permanently contained somewhere is because he's still a good agent. He takes the missions that no one else is willing to." he continued.

"Just talk to him, it's better to get on his good side first. He's loyal. Especially if he takes a liking to you. Just be careful of what you say to him, Skye." Coulson sighed and shook his head, "But I promise he's a good agent. Don't listen to what the other agents have to say about him."

Skye took a long breath before standing up, file still in hand, "Sir, are you sure about this?" she asked. "Are you really sure?"

"Not at all. Just be nice to him and try not to say anything that will set him off." Coulson responded. "Oh, and you'll probably find him where we keep the alcohol. He's always there."

"Yeah, I don't like this."

"Just try, Skye. It might go well."

(Elsewhere)

Grant Ward sat at the small bar, staring blankly at his glass of whiskey. It was quiet, just how he liked it. No one bothered coming in here when he was present, everyone was afraid of him. But at least no one was talking behind his back and calling him 'monster' and 'demon'. He couldn't help what he was and what he could do, it was just that people didn't help.

He continued to stare at the glass until the sound of footsteps and a voice jerked his attention.

"Coulson told me that you would probably be in here, and it looks like he was right."

Ward frowned and looked to see a young woman with about shoulder-length brown hair coming towards him. It looked as though she had some Asian heritage and a file was clutched in her hands. "Who the hell are you?" he asked sharply, upset that his solitude had been broken.

"Agent Johnson." she replied.

"Johnson? As in Daisy Johnson?" Ward asked. He pointed at her, "You're the Director's pet."

Skye cringed at Ward's comment, "You can call me Skye." she said, sitting in the stool a few feet away from the man.

"Well, Skye, what brings Coulson's little soldier to see me of all people?" he asked coldly. "No one comes to see me willingly. No one. You have a reason. And it better be good."

Skye fished for a paper out of the file and handed it to Ward, "Coulson wants you to join me and another agent on a mission."

Ward's face darkened, "He should know that I don't work with others." He practically growled. "I do missions that no one else wants to do. I don't care whether I make it out alive or not. Why does he want me working with others?"

"Read the file." Skye responded. "It's a recon mission to a Hydra base to extract data from their servers."

Ward's eyes skimmed the paper before crumpling up in his hand, "That's not my specialty." he stated. "I do kill missions. I do mission that require destruction."

"The servers are located in a subzero freezer to keep them from outsiders. You're the only one that can get in and out of there with ease. I give you a drive with a Trojan Horse program on it, you get into the freezer and insert the drive into the main server computer, and we get the data from there." Skye explained.

"You just needed a guy that couldn't freeze to death." Ward stated coldly. "Coulson should know that it's big risk anytime I go on a mission. There's always the risk of me losing it and killing people that are our own. There's a reason why agents persist on calling me 'Demon', Skye." There was a broken look in his brown eyes. "Because I essentially become one when I lose it. I work alone and that's it. Tell Coulson that I'm not going." He turned away from Skye.

"Look, it's not that bad of a mission, Agent Ward." Skye began to explain. "There should be minimal fighting if we do it right. I think you'll be fine. It's not that long of a mission. And Coulson said that it was your time for another mission, whatever the hell that means."

A small smirk pulled at Ward's lips and he faced Skye again, "That's because he thinks that it's bad for me to stay cooped-up in this base. But I'm the last resort, like I said. I do the missions that no one else wants to do. Tell me one reason to why I should say yes and go with you?"

Skye detected a hint of self-loathing in the man's voice and she started to feel bad for him. He couldn't help who he was, he couldn't help what his genetics gave him. "To be honest, I don't have a good reason. It's just that you're the man for the job." she admitted.

Ward looked to the side and stood to his feet, "Skye, I'll tell you now that you won't like what you see from me if something happens. I'm a monster."

"And I'm one too."

Ward blinked and frowned, "What?" he asked.

"You should know that I'm Inhuman, that I'm gifted." Skye stated. "That technically makes me a monster too. Your genetics don't make you a monster."

"Yeah, but it's more than that. It's what happens to me…" he trailed off and shook his head. "Never mind, but Coulson may want to rethink his choice for this."

"I think you're a good choice, is that good enough?" Skye asked, smiling slightly. She was trying something to get him to go, but she was starting to become wary of him.

"You don't know me, Skye. You don't know what I'm capable of. But that's probably good. Maybe you won't call me names behind my back and avoid me like everyone else." Ward gulped, "Fine, I'll go. But if you start anything,"

"I won't. Lincoln won't either, he's the other guy with us." Skye cut in. "You'll be fine. And it says in your file that you can fly the Quinjets, is that right?"

Ward nodded, his stomach in knots, "Yes, why?"

"We don't need fifty different people going with us. It's better if one of us can pilot the jet." Skye explained. "Again, it's an in and out mission. There shouldn't be much fighting or anything that will, uh, set you off."

"I hope that you're telling the truth, Skye. I want to at least have one person I can trust. I don't really care for Coulson, but he's the man that keeps me here. If it was anyone else, I would be in a containment facility by now." Ward explained. "You don't know what it's like being ridiculed every day."

"Sometimes I do, Ward. But I promise that you'll be fine. Hell, I'll even make sure myself that you'll be fine. We'll get the mission over and you can be back here to yourself. Does that sound okay?" she asked.

Ward nodded hesitantly, a bad feeling in his stomach. The last person that trusted him this much… He cringed at the memory. The agent ended up in a med facility with severe full-body burns. Ward was surprised that the guy didn't die, but he was horribly scarred.

The thing about hellfire is that it burns hot, very hot, and for a long time at that. It destroyed everything that stood in its way.

"I-I don't guarantee that everything will be okay. It doesn't take much." Ward stammered, trying to keep his hardened demeanor.

Skye realized that the reason why the man was so cold was that he had no one else and he had learned to stay that way. He had learned to distrust everyone, including himself. She took a breath, "You'll be fine."

"And you're foolish to believe so." Ward stated, his voice taking its cold tone again. "Everyone is. People learn, Skye. And that's why everyone knows to stay the hell away from me. The definition of a mistake is thinking that I'll be fine. That's the biggest damn mistake you can make."

Skye took a sharp breath, "Are you coming or not?" she asked. "Coulson needs an answer."

A muscle twitched in Ward's face as he looked Skye up and down. He had never met her personally, he had only seen her around the somewhat-massive base. He had always kept to himself, ever since Coulson had brought him here after the fall of SHIELD. Ward had learned to not trust anyone. Once people discovered that he was the man known as Hellfire, they would flee from him. Or worse, ridicule him in their fear of him.

People became bullies from fear. He knew that personally. His family had treated him like crap because they knew what he was and was afraid of him. He couldn't help that he got the short end of the stick in the Slade family curse. He couldn't help what he was.

He wanted to trust Skye, he wanted to think that she would actually treat him like a person and not the monster everyone thought he was. But in his years of being a SHIELD agent, in his years of being the monster known as Hellfire, he had learned that you can't trust anyone. Fear caused people to do vile things, and he always got the worst of it.

He gulped and saw the light in Skye's brown eyes, a light that told him that he could trust her. She shuffled, adjusting her jean jacket as she waited for an answer. "F-Fine." he stammered. "But I'm not sure of what will happen."

Skye nodded, "You'll be fine, Agent Ward."

"I'm not sure of that."

Author's Note: I don't own AoS, Marvel does. So, this is one last thing I'm trying before I possibly take a break from writing. My confidence is dwindling since anything I write now doesn't do well, so I hope this does the opposite. This is a complete AU where Ward was never on the team and was never Hydra. He's just a gifted agent that Coulson keeps close due to the uncertainty of his powers. So I really hope that this works. Keep reading and PLEASE favorite, follow, and/or review! (Can we make it 5 or so?) ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.