I stared into the camera and did my best to look grim from inside of the bunker where I'd been moved. I nodded to the camera man and they turned on the camera. "My fellow Americans," I said, pausing for effect. "Today I bear you the most grievous possible news. Our democracy has come today under the assault of fanatics and criminals, remanents of the black ops SHIELD organization. The terror that began with the attack of the Winter Soldier has continued – Today, they hijacked the guns of a helicarrier in order to levy an attack at those who supported the creation of SWORD and the dissolution of SHIELD. We are still looking into the whereabouts of dozens of Senators and hundreds of Representatives, in the hopes that they were inside and safe from the targeting computers."

I paused here, for the gravity of the moment. It really was a tragedy, what I was doing to the oldest democracy on the planet. "So far as we can now discern, we expect over half of our august Congress is dead. This is the darkest day in the history of our nation," please ignore the genocide and slavery period, "The only light in our horizon is that those who personally perpetrated this atrocity were destroyed by the brave men and women of SWORD. Unable to regain control of the Helicarrier, unaware of how many more SHIELD would try to kill, I ordered SWORD to turn their guns on the hijacked helicarrier. In the process of doing so, they lost some of their own friends and fellow service members, including those who were fighting to stop this devastating attack. It was, and God willing shall remain, the hardest decision I have ever made. We are still in the process of recovering the tapes and materials of the downed Helicarrier, but we were receiving word of their heroic sacrifices to the very end."

I managed to produce a few, manful tears – That particular ship had been stocked with not particularly closely tied to Hydra SWORD members. "We commend them to their maker as worthy of all the honor that any nation or people can bestow. But it is they who have honored us with their sacrifice and courage. It is we, the living, who must bear nobly the heavy honor they have bestowed on us. Today, I am calling upon Congress to empower our administration to do everything that must be done to end this threat to our country. I am calling upon my fellow Americans to be vigilant, we have no idea how expansive of a conspiracy SHIELD mobilized. I will keep you updated, please keep our nation in your prayers.

Today, more than any other day, may God bless you and may God bless America."

We were keeping an eye on the Hulk, who had fled from Clint's house after the attack, but nothing important was happening with him beside that. Ultimately, if I had to, I could have him attacked again. Hulk's an idiot.

---

Ward arrived in the safe house a second time after he'd gone off to find Nat. He'd come by after he couldn't find her and the news alarms started going off all around him. He didn't think anyone was onto him, but he wasn't going risk being out here for those damn sniper rounds.

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The underground room was dark and outdated, with an old couch and godawful orange shag carpert and no TV or radio. It was a secure location, not one in regular use, and that was why Ward had picked it. If they were going to lay low, they needed somewhere out of the way, he needed somewhere that could hold a regular supply of Micron particles. He'd been stocking up for years, of course, off the books. No need to tell anyone about his "Get out of Hydra" plan. Worst come to worst, they could always flee off world.

Daisy jumped off the couch, "Ward, what's happening? Did you find Nat?" Daisy looked like shit, like she'd been worrying non-stop. He felt bad. He wished she didn't have to feel like that.

He shook his head. She was probably dead now. He wouldn't have been that broken up about it, honestly, but it would've been unbelievably dumb to betray Hydra without trying to save her, so he'd tried his best. That was over now. Whenever he came up for air, they were going to come for him. He looked over at Steve and said, "I… no. She's probably dead."

"Probably dead?" Daisy said, "How can you know?"

He hadn't bothered to grab a phone to show her. "It was all part of the big plan, or at least it probably was."

Steve looked concerned and frustrated from the couch, but he held it in. He was too good at that. You wouldn't have expected it from somebody so decent, but he was really in control of his emotions. "Ward, I think you should start at the beginning."

Ward had never wanted to tell Steve this. He had put it off for years and years. Promise of the ascension around the corner had been the ordinary habit of Hydra for decades – Why would this time be any different? But whoever was in charge now was apparently ready to take more power and a few more risks. So now he had to explain, he didn't have any choice. "When I was eighteen, John Garret recruited me into a secret organization after I burnt my family home down."

"Okay," Steve said, annoyed. "I meant the start of this."

"That organization wasn't SHIELD." Ward took a deep breath, looking between his friends. This was his last time to be seen as an ordinary person by his friend. "It was, and I know you will find this hard to believe, a substantially worse organization than SHIELD."

It was clear that they were both finding that hard to believe. SHIELD was a major problem for them.

"In fact, much of SHIELD's worst excesses were actually that organization's actions."

"Spit it out, Ward," Steve said, looking at him with renewed suspicion. A dagger in Ward's heart. He was a good friend, he'd come to save Steve even though it might get him killed. He'd tried to save Daisy and Natasha too. He had tried to do the right thing, in the end, he didn't deserve the suspicion.

"That organization was Hydra."