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chapter seventeen

(unknown
unknown) 

    CLARA HOPED it had been a bad dream. All of it a terrible, horrific nightmare. But as her eyes opened━tired and wary━and the room around her slowly focused into view ... she found herself in the same spot. She felt the pillow against her head. She smelt the familiar sting to her nose. She recognised the tiles and the roof━the equipment set out around her. At least, this time, she could breathe. Her fingers lifted up to where she had pulled the tube straight out of her nose, and it ached at the touch. She glanced to her side, where a figure was slumped, asleep in the chair beside her. Clara's heart jolted, hoping for the best. She couldn't see his face, and some naive, desperate hope in her whispered, "Fitz?"

    Though she knew it was too good to be true. Those weren't Fitz's shoulders. That wasn't Fitz's hair. Clara stiffened. Her breathing quickened━and she felt as if she was suffocating all over again. She froze there, in the hospital bed in the medical pod of the Playground, and she couldn't move as she stared at Ward sleeping at her side. Ward. 

    (Will she ever be rid of him? She thought miserably).

    She took a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm. She had no idea what had happened here in the Framework━especially now that Ward was here, still alive. Did they know he was a traitor? Did they know he worked for HYRDA? Either way, Clara had to play along. She had to listen and she had to figure out the life this version of her had in order to find Fitz━to find the others. She glanced around. She was in the Playground. She saw the lab spread out through the glass pod doors. She hoped this meant that not too much was different. She hoped she would find Coulson and May in these hallways, would find Leith in the training room. She would see Mack making a coffee in the kitchen. Would find Fitz at his desk ...

    Clara frowned. His desk was nowhere to be found. She sat up, confused. She knew exactly where his desk was in the lab━she knew what it looked like, she knew every little thing he had on there. And she knew that there was an empty space near the medical pod ... where he should be, smiling back at her. 

    She heard the shift in Ward's figure. She hunched up again, her breath hitching in a terrified gasp as she watched━wide-eyed━as Grant Ward slowly began to wake. He stretched, uncomfortable from sleeping, hunched in the chair for a long time. She couldn't even manage a breath to speak as his eyes opened, and he caught her startled stare. 

    Ward's own eyes widened. He shot up to sit straight, "You're awake," he breathed, like it was a shock. 

    Clara's heart pounded painfully against her ribs. She frowned, her breathing uneven. Ward watched her curiously, his brows knitting together━and she started to panic. She hated that look; like he was trying to figure out all of her lies when she found out he had been a double-agent. She clenched the bedsheets, you're better at lying, now, she had to remind herself. But her legs were jolting━she had the sudden urge to run; and to run far, far away to a place where Ward could never find her ever again. 

    When she didn't say anything, Ward's gaze turned concerned, "Clara?" he breathed, careful. He started to reach out a hand━she flinched away. He stopped, taken aback; hurt, even. Good, she wanted to think, but her thoughts were muddled like she was trying to swim through muddy waters. She stared, gaunt at his hand, and Ward slowly pulled it away ... he held it up in a gentle gesture of peace. 

    "You're okay," he decided to tell her. 

    Finally, Clara found her voice. It sounded pitiful: "What━what happened? Why am I here?" she started to get teary-eyed, wishing someone else was in here with her. "Where's Fitz?"

    She didn't see the fall in Ward's gaze. The way he went to say something, but stopped. His silence made her glance back at him, confused. Clara's brows lifted━her heart raced; she knew that look. The look when you were terrified to tell someone the horrible, painful truth. She began to think the worst. Had she lost him? Had she gone all this way to find him ... only to lose him anyway? 

    No, she told herself. You can't give up. Fitz would not give up. 

   Ward pursed his lips. He shifted awkwardly in his seat. He hadn't changed at all from the man that had been her nightmare. He still wore the same black, leather jacket and shirt━with a beard that he either shaved or let grow out until it was scruff around his jaw. Cold eyes and dark hair━but his eyes right now ... it was the only different thing about them. They were warm. They were caring. 

    He took a short breath before muttered, "Clara..." he began carefully, "... what ... what do you remember?"

    "Remember?" her tongue was dry. "What━what━" her voice choked up; she hated it. "What happened?"

     Ward held back on his explanation. He clasped his hands together, chewing on his decisions. Clara wasn't sure herself whether she wanted to know. In the end, he decided: "I'll tell you. But right now ... right now you need to rest."

    She frowned, "I don't need rest," she rebutted━she was sure she did, but because it was Ward who was telling her what to do, naturally, Clara was determined to do the opposite. 

    "Yes," he said, stern but caring in the way he used to be━back when Clara believed his lies. "You do. You need rest, you need to listen to the medical staff━" the pointed tone of his voice made her feel as if this was some inside joke. 

     But it struck her with something odd. Clara cut him off, "Wait━" she felt herself running on her adrenaline, able to talk to Ward in a conversation without breaking into a frantic panic. "How ... how long have I been out?"

     He hesitated again. He glanced towards the door, as if prepared to grab some of the lab techs, "It's probably best if━"

    "Ward," his name tasted sour and bitter on her tongue. He met her gaze. Clara swallowed her bile and managed: "Tell me."

     She watched his gaze drift over to something sat on the table beside the bed. Clara frowned at the framed picture, perplexed to see herself smiling━young and happy, wrapped up in Ward's arms. It was her, but it wasn't her. She ... now when Clara looked at herself through the mirror, all she saw were the years weighing down on her. All of her nightmares, all that she's lost and all that's she's learnt━every mistake and every experience that has changed her. The Clara in this picture wasn't tired. She wasn't sad. She wasn't drained and she wasn't living with guilt. She wanted to trust others, she smiled with her entire heart, she wanted to see the best in the world━she was desperate to hope that maybe this time, it could do her no wrong.

    But Clara also knew that girl was just as broken as the woman she is now, deep down. 

    But at least she was happy. At least she looked happier than Clara has ever seen herself be in a long time. Innocent, she realised. Naive. 

    Ward stared at the picture sadly; he had aged, too, since the person he was that stood behind Clara, hugging her with a kiss to her cheek━he had to bend down so far to reach her height; even if she had worn heels to help. 

    Clara continued to frown at him. He was different. She ... she couldn't explain it, and she didn't know whether it terrified her, or gave her this strange, bewildering comfort. "Grant," she found herself saying, softer. He looked pained. Like that damaged young man who stared back at her in that bar in Dublin, vulnerable to her for the first time. She nodded. "You can tell me. It's okay."

    Grant Ward managed a stiff, pained smile. "Uh..." he shook his head, looking down to his hands. He was trying to hide how upset he was. Clara was a strange mix of feelings. Everything in her warned her: don't trust him. He's lying. He doesn't mean it. It remembered all that he done, all the pain and horrible things he had caused. Remembered the way he watched her as he dropped her and Fitz into the bottom of the ocean and completely changed their lives. Remembered Hive that took host in his dead body. Every sense in her told her to hit and run. But this other part of her ... the part of her that had spared his life when she had the chance to end it ... also managed to see through all of that and notice this strange, genuine breath this Ward held that the one she knew, did not. 

    Ward took a deep breath and nodded to himself. He met her gaze, and it was strong━determined not to lie to her. "A few years ago, you━uh━you almost drowned. You risked your life to save someone who didn't deserve it. He turned on you, he hurt you, Clara. But you fought," he said to her, and he sounded proud. "You fought. You were brave. You pushed through everything and you came out of the other end. But then ..." he faltered again. "Six months ago, you ... you went through a change━Terrigenesis━" he hung on the word, as if checking to see whether it triggered some memory. "Once you broke through the husk, you ... you've been in a coma ever since. I━" Ward clenched his jaw, cursing himself silently at getting emotional. "I thought you wouldn't ever wake up, but ... but then you did. But I stayed," he added, stressing the point. "I stayed with you Clara. And I fought. I've fought for people like you. I promise you that."

    She knew she should feel some breath of gratitude. Maybe she did. Perhaps she should feel confusion at the story━and how some part of it felt so familiar, and it was ironic that Ward would tell her it. But most of all, Clara felt relief. Terrigenesis ... she was an Inhuman here. She had her powers. That was something she could use━something she held over Radcliffe; over any danger that might present itself here. 

    Clara took a deep breath herself, glancing around at the medical pod. She stared at her hands as they rose from the blankets. She let herself feel it━the buzz of energy that jabbed at her palms like pins and needles. She closed her hands into soft fists, her heart starting to beat to a determined pace. 

   She started to think over Ward's words. Take away bits and pieces and try and decipher it. Something sank deep in her chest━it filled her lungs with water. Drowned, he had mentioned. She had nearly drowned, saving someone's life. That didn't settle right with her. That wasn't how the story went. That wasn't what kept her up late at night, thinking of how or what she could have done differently━

    Clara sat up straighter; her stomach twisted as a horrible thought hit her━

    There was a knock on the glass door. She jumped, glancing up and over. The face that stared back at her wasn't someone she recognised━but he stared at her as if he recognised her. He stared at her with the same shock Ward had. She narrowed her eyes, peering at the man's lanky figure; at his mono-lidded eyes and his soft cheeks. At his graphic tee-shirt and his baggy jeans━he didn't look like an agent at all. 

     Ward met the man's gaze through the glass. Something silent passed between them. Then the man opened the door and stepped inside. "Jack," he greeted as he stood up. "Jack━" he walked over to him and grasped the man's arm, muttering quickly in a soft voice; he briefly glanced back at Clara who still watched the stranger with a frown ... "She ... she might not know who you are."

     The stranger, Jack, met her estranged stare. Clara couldn't look away━the name tugged at something in her head. "Jack..." she murmured curiously, still sluggish and slow. 

    Jack eyed her for a moment before turning back to Ward, "You're needed back outside." Ward sighed, frustrated. 

    "I'm not leaving her," snapped back Ward in a harsh whisper, nodding to Clara. "Not now."

    "You can't break your cover. Leith made it clear. You made a risk coming back here."

    At his name, Clara almost collapsed forward. "Leith?" she let out, her words almost strangled. Both of them turned to her, startled at the switch of her tone.  Her chest lifted with desperate, exhausted relief. "Leith━" she ignored any need for rest and threw the covers off her. Ward tried to stop her but Clara struggled off anyway. As soon as her bare feet touched the tile, her legs buckled on her. She would have fallen if Ward hadn't caught her. 

    She gasped and pushed him away, immediately doing her best to get as far away as possible━she tripped and hit the tiles, painfully on her back. 

    "Clara!" both of them cried out, startled. 

    They rushed to help her. Ward grabbed her and tugged her back up, she fought him, but his strong grip kept her steady. "Are you mad?!" he whispered to her and she froze, growing startled with terror all over again. He noticed. His grip laced, but he did not let go. 

    Jack shuffled, anxious on his feet. He gestured to the lab, "Do we need━?"

   "Where's Leith?" Clara asked again, her heart in her throat. She needed to see him━she needed to find her brother. "I━I need━I want to see Leith. Where is he? Is he okay?"

    "What you need is rest," Ward albeit ordered, trying to guide her back to the bed. 

    "I need to see my brother," she snapped at him, tugging her arm back angrily. She had to hold onto the side-table, but she was determined to keep herself away from his grip. "Where is he?"

     Jack pursed his lips. While Ward was taking deep breaths to try and keep calm, he stepped forward and said, "I'll keep an eye on her, okay? You have a briefing to get to."

    Clara scowled at the stranger, "Do you know where Leith is?"

   He nodded, "I'll take you to him."

    Ward was about to lose it. He gestured angrily to Jack, "She needs to be medically checked!" he grumbled. "She has just woken up from a months long coma━get back in the bed, Clara, now!"

    "I'll bring him here," Jack argued. "It'll be fine." Ward huffed. The stranger nodded to him. "She'll be fine, Ward. I promise, okay?"

    Clara moved so she could lean against the side of the bed, weak and feeling ready to pass out. Ward watched her, he clenched his hands━his anger fell away and he stepped back and forth. 

    Jack gave him a pointed stare, "She'll be fine. You have things you need to do."

    Ward gritted his teeth. But in the end, he relented and turned back to her. She wasn't in the mood anymore to humour this version of him━she wanted him to go. She wanted him out of here. "I'll be back, Clara," he said to her gently. She didn't look at him, head in her hands as she tried to take deep breaths to keep herself awake. Ward pursed his lips, pained. When she didn't acknowledge him, he gave Jack a final glance, "Do not leave her side, all right━?"

   "I'll take care of her, Agent Ward," the stranger understood. "I always do."

    Ward set his jaw. He watched Clara for a moment longer before reluctantly leaving. He took something off the side table. For a glimpse, she caught the badge inside it. She nearly passed out then and there, seeing the haunting skull━the symbol of a five limbed squid. HYDRA. 

     He left the room and Jack was at her side in an instant. 

    "You need to lie back down," he told her. "Come on."

     "I can't lie down," whimpered Clara, suddenly miserable at all that was happening. "I need to find Leith, you━you don't understand."

     "Lie back down," Jack said again, and she didn't even have the energy anymore to fight him as he helped her back up onto the bed. "I'll bring Leith, okay? He'll ..." the stranger smiled. He looked happy. "He's ... this is going to be the best day of his life."

     As she sat up against the pillows, her head lolling back as she tried to focus, something finally started to come together. Clara peered at the stranger in his graphic shirt and his baggy jeans ... she swore she's seen a picture of him before ... his name: Jack ...

     A sad breath left her━a sad, surprised sigh as it hit her. "Jack..." she said again, soft and understanding. "You were..." she quickly corrected herself. "You are Leith's ...?"

    "Boyfriend?" he offered as he tucked her in, kind and gentle. "Partner? Significant other? More importantly, I'm your best friend. So you rest, and I'll see whether you're okay to have a tea, and I'll get Leith. You guys need to see each other."

    "Where is Ward going?" she asked as Jack prepared to leave. 

     Jack pursed his lips. "It's complicated. He'll explain it better than I could. Or ... well ... you'll manage to understand him. You always do ..."

    Understand, she hated that word and Ward in the same sentence. 

    Jack grasped her arm and gave it a kind squeeze. "You ... you're going to be okay in here for a minute?"

     Clara met his gaze, and she felt like she was staring at a ghost. Everything about Jack was so real━everything around her felt, sounded, smelt so real as if she was still back home. It was unsettling ... and she couldn't let herself think about it too much. Think how there was light in Jack's eyes, and pores on his skin━he was alive; flesh and bone, and yet how could he be? How could any of these feel so real? 

     She pursed her lips and nodded. 

    Once Jack was gone, Clara fell back against the pillows again. She closed her eyes briefly, she needed to get out of here. She needed to figure out a plan. She needed to find the others. But not only that, she needed to meet up at the rendezvous point and pray that Jemma and Daisy were okay; that they hadn't found themselves in such an immobile position ... or Ward at their side. But right now, right now ... all Clara Roy wanted ... all she could think about, was her big brother. 

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(April 30th, 2017
The Framework)

   
    CLARA GLANCED over when the door opened again. Jack poked his head in and he smiled, he held up a tea. "You're safe to have it." She went to say something, but he stopped her. "No caffeine, milk, no sugar, it's okay."

    Her shoulders slouched, taken aback. Jack continued to smile at her as he made his way over and set it down on the table for her. Clara choked up━they have memory, they have sentiment ... they could joke and they could smile; they could have a relationship with someone. Their programming was so advanced that emotion existed. Jack was so real. He was so real that she wondered whether he was like this before he died ... all she had known was a picture in Leith's wallet. Now, he stood right in front of her. 

    "Thank you," croaked Clara, finding herself unable to say anything else. 

     She heard the pounding of feet on the tiles. She perked up, confused. Jack glanced over, and she didn't see the smile on his face as he stepped back. Clara sat forward, her tea forgotten as her heart rose into her throat. Her breath hitched when the running got louder━and bursting into the lab was her brother. Clara teared up, her heart aching to see Leith. To see a face that was like hers, hair that matched her own━her brother who was the last person she had left; they were all they had left: each other.

    And she thought she'd have to crawl through the mountains, fight all of the dangers and scream at the top of her lungs to find him. Instead, he spun around in the lab, eyes searching━and he found her. 

    "Leith━" she sobbed out and he stumbled towards the medical pod door. He threw it open and Clara didn't even consider what life he had here. Instead she held out her arms and he threw himself into them. Her brother wrapped her up close to him, tight as he broke down━he sobbed into her shoulder and she cried into his chest, clinging on tight to his jumper with a trembling grip. 

    "Bloody hell," he whispered, his voice cracking. Leith hugged her so tight she found it hard to breathe, but she didn't mind. He cradled her head and clutched on with the same desperation. "Bloody hell━"

     "You're here," she sobbed, not caring at all about what he knew and what he didn't. She relaxed in her brother's hold, almost hysterical and welcoming the comfort he gave━to welcome the warmth after everything that had happened to get her here. "You're here."

     Leith clenched his eyes shut. He squeezed her, "Yeah, I'm here..."

    Clara hiccuped through her tears, "I found you," she sobbed. "I found you." It was all she could think━all she could say. She was so relieved and so happy that she didn't let him go for a very long time. And he didn't let go of her. 

    She didn't see Jack smile at the two of them and left them be, giving them some time alone. If Clara did, she would have seen such love in his eyes that was anything if not purely human. 

    Leith was the first to pull away, and he wiped away her tears. "I knew you'd wake up," her brother told her. 

    Those words brought her back a sense of reality. Clara sniffled her tears back and took in the jumper he wore━his sense of style had not changed one bit in the Framework. But she did notice something out of the ordinary. She frowned at the identification clipped to his chest. She touched it, reading the title with a breath of awe, "Director Roy?"

     Leith flushed. He chuckled, a little sheepish before he sat down on the end of her bed. "Uh, yeah," he shrugged, trying to shove it off. "It's━uh━it's nothing."

     "It's not nothing," murmured Clara, still surprised. "You━you're in charge of this place?"

     "Uh ..." he pursed his lips. And the look he gave her was very much the Leith she knew, and she was happy to see it. "Yeah," he admitted. "You━" he chuckled. "You'd think it crazy. Me? Leith? Director?"

    "No," she quickly shook her head. "No, not at all." Clara meant it. Leith met her gaze, taken aback. "I━" she smiled a little, trying to imagine him as Fury, or as Coulson━or even Mace. But she couldn't. And yet ... she did, too. "I think it's great! I think you'd be very good at the role━I mean━" she gestured to the badge, "━you already are, I assume. I just ..." Clara didn't know what to think of it. If he was Director, where was Mace? Where was May, and Coulson, and Mack━where was Fitz? And where were her friends? Daisy and Jemma? Why was Ward still alive? 

     But what jarred her the most, was that somehow, Leith had been here long enough to earn this role━did he remember it? Did he have memories? Had he liven an entire life? What about their life? The one back home━the one she needed to get him back to? 

    She was stunned to silence for a moment, because Clara just realised ... how was she going to tell Leith the truth? How was she going to convince him that this life that was so real around them, was all fake? She glanced out to the pod where she saw Jack sitting at one of the desks, hunched over a tablet━though he peered upwards; brief until he quickly looked back down, trying very hard to make it seem like he wasn't watching them.

    Clara's heart fell. How was she going to explain to Leith that Jack was dead? That this Jack wasn't real? 

    Another thought hit her, How was she going to explain to Jemma? 

    Clara turned back to her brother. She was at a loss of words━at loss of a plan. She pursed her lips. She forced the smile back on her face. "I━" she swallowed the lump in her throat, "I'm proud of you. Happy for you. You deserve it━you ... you are very capable. You always needed to give yourself more credit."

     Leith chuckled. He smiled back at her. Tears in his eyes, he grasped her hand, "I missed you," he told her quietly. "I━I have missed you so much."

     She was fighting back tears, too. But now, they were pained. Clara nodded. She squeezed his hand, "I━I've missed you, too," she muttered. 

     His smile broadened. He chuckled again. He wiped away his tears and shook his head. "Um━" Leith let go of her hand to rub his together. "I don't━are you━are you okay?" He closed his eyes. "That's a stupid question. Um, you must be tired. Wait━I should probably let you rest, I'm sorry."

     There was so much Clara wanted to say ... she couldn't say any of it. Distant and empty in feeling, she found herself nodding. "Y━yeah," her voice didn't feel like her own. "Yeah, I need rest." 

     Leith nodded. "Yeah━yeah━" he said quickly, standing back up. "Of course. No, you need rest. You should rest."

    Clara fought back her tears. "You'll━you'll come back, though? When I wake up?"

    "Of course," said her brother. "Yeah━of course, I will. Jack works in the lab, so━just━let him know and he'll grab me. I'll━" he smiled. "I'm not busy, not for you."

     He left her alone in the room. Clara watched him go, and when she saw him grin and rush over to Jack━saw him kiss his forehead in passing, filled with glee, and Jack chuckled, blushing and pushing him off ... all she felt was grief.

    Leith had a life here. He was happy. He looked happy. She didn't know how to tell him that he had a life somewhere else━she didn't want to see the hurt ... more importantly, Clara was scared that he wouldn't want to come back, even if she did somehow convince him. 

    She took a shaky breath, holding back her want to cry. She needed to get out of here. She had to find Daisy and Jemma━they would figure out what to do from there. They all had to figure out what to do, but at least Clara wouldn't be alone. 

    She glanced around her. She stared at her legs; she tried her best to move them. And that was easy, but as soon as she wanted to put weight on them, she knew she would not have much strength. And then what? How would she get out of the base? If she managed to get through the security ... where would she go from there? 

     You can't give up, she told herself. Fitz would not give up. 

    She had to find someone else. Other than the rendezvous point, Clara had to find someone who might believe her. Someone who might remember her. 

    There was only one person she could think of━who she went to whenever she was lost, and scared, and felt helpless. Who picked her back up and gave her the strength to keep on going:

    Clara had to find Coulson. 

    She took a determined breath. She swallowed her tears. Clara clenched the bed sheet and closed her eyes, feeling the energy that snapped back and forth inside her━begging to be used after spending so long contained. She focused on it. She clenched the sheets harder, forcing it down and down━her legs were alive with a burning flame in her muscles. 

     Clara opened her eyes, and in the dim glow of the light hanging above, they glimmered a flicker of gold. Around her, the world that had seemed so real, and so wonderfully authentic sparked━it wavered; a warp rippled on the bed she sat in, and for a moment, she saw crossfires of digital blues━the programming that had wrapped a web of lies to consume her friends. 

    She didn't stop to think whether Radcliffe and A.I.D.A knew the mistake they had made. Perhaps Clara had woken in this world to find her in a coma for a reason━because if there was anybody who was a threat to a creation such as this, it would be an Inhuman such as her. For there was a point where not even Clara Roy was prepared to stay nice for too long━not when it came to protecting those she cared about. 

    Clara would have to figure out what to do with Leith later. Right now, she had to find Coulson, and she had to find Simmons and Daisy. She needed to get out of this base━and if it was anything like the Playground at home, Clarissa Roy knew exactly how to get out of here without being detected. 

     She took a deep breath and all around her, the Framework froze━it glitched; steps came still, breaths were held, heartbeats were paused. Eyelids fluttered; all of Radcliffe's work staggered under the power of one individual. And when they all finally blinked, and Jack glanced over to the side, his eyes widened━for Clarissa Roy was nowhere to be found. 

     Jack's stomach dropped, "Oh ... shit━" he rushed around his desk, scrambling to grab whatever he needed before taking off down the hallway. 

    Clarissa Roy was almost impossible to be found. She walked the hallways of the Playground, knowing the path she wanted to go back to front. She had found some clothes from the bags that were kept in the cupboards by her hospital bed, feeling herself a little unusual in clothes that were supposedly her own━and yet weren't. She kept her hands in the pockets of the leather jacket she wore over a tight, white shirt, walking a paced stride in heeled boots and ripped jeans.

    Even in plain sight, no one turned heads at her. She gazed at them briefly through strawberry blonde waves that fell around her cheeks, but no one caught her stares. Clara pulled out the lanyard she had taken from Jack's shirt, turning it in her fingers before she swiped it against the next door━the security clicked green and she walked straight through without trouble. 

    As she did, she glanced upwards and around━part of her was sick, the other part marvelled how realistic the world was. These clothes brushed against her skin. Her boots were tight around her ankles. The heels clicked in perfect pitch against tiles that were miraculously accurate to not just how Clara remembered them to be━but in their texture and their shine. The lights had the exact, perfect gleam and direction. The way they reflected against surfaces was exact━there was nothing about this reality that would make it seem like it was anything other than the truth. 

   Even the air she breathed: it was somehow made of the exact components she would need to live. And it contained the slight smell the Playground always had━a mixture of old musty brick and a taste of industrial rust. And these people ... Clara wondered whether it was cruel that they were given lives, and emotions and such real reactions, sensory triggers and brain functions that they truly believed they were real, too. 

    So real that when one recognised their friend had disappeared, their first reaction was to find them. 

    Clara glanced back when she heard jogging━her brows furrowed, surprised as Jack rushed to catch up with her, waving his hands in a silent, estranged look of: are you crazy?!

   She didn't mean to let out a sigh of frustration, but it escaped her lips without thought. "Believe me," she told him as he reached her, "it'll be a good idea for you to just go on about your day."

    "You should be in bed," Jack ignored her and continued to wave his hands around in exasperation. "How did you even━?"

   Clara set her jaw. She needed to get out of here. "I can't explain it, okay? Not right now━you won't understand."

     "Explain what? Understand what?" Jack set his hands on his hips. He dropped his hands into a whisper. "You woke up from a coma━you shouldn't even be standing! Let alone disappearing in a second! One moment you're there, and then I blink, and you're gone! What the hell, Clara?"

    She shook her head. She felt the heart ache at the genuine concern in his voice━Clara had to remind herself that he wasn't real. That in her world, Jack was dead. They didn't know each other. They never got the chance to know each other━let alone get the chance to be friends. She realised that despite the fact that he was nothing more than programming, there was a part of her that didn't want to tell him the truth. Because of Leith. 

     "Listen to me," she instead said, holding up her hands. Jack scowled at the sight of his lanyard in her fingers. "I need you to go back to your desk, and forget all of this happened. I need to get out of here. I need to do something, and believe me, you don't want to know what it is━or do I think you will understand any of it."

    "Yeah?" he challenged her, stepping closer. "Try me."

    She sighed. "I can't."

    "Why not?" Jack stared at her, not sure whether to be confused, scared or even concerned. There was something different about this Clara that stood in front of him. And it wasn't her massive, magical disappearance. "I'm your friend, Clara," he tried. "We've known each other for years, now. Whatever is happening, whatever is going on━you can trust me."

     Clara stammered. "I━" she shook her head, disbelieving at the worry lines he held━a piece of programming. "Go back," she urged him━warned him.

     Jack shook his head, stubborn. "No."

    She closed her eyes briefly, and he continued: "Not only did I promise Ward I wouldn't leave your side, I also promised it to Leith. But most importantly, I've promised it to you. So, tell me what's going on because I know something isn't right."

     She frowned at him. Quickly, she realised that no matter how hard she tried to persuade Jack, he wasn't going to leave. "You're not going to head back, are you?"

    "Nope."

    "You're going to follow me?"

    "Yeah," he nodded. "Even if you're acting actually crazy right now. So, what's going on?"

    Clara pursed her lips, glancing around them. "We can't talk about it here," she whispered to Jack. She passed him back his card and dragged him along with her.

    He recognised where they were going. "Wait━" he stopped her before they got any further. "If we're heading outside, you'll need your I.D. Did Ward give you your I.D.?"

    She frowned, "I.D.?"

    Jack stared at her confused, "Yeah, for Inhuman Identification Checkouts."

    Her stomach twisted, "I━Inhuman Identification Checkouts...?" she echoed, startled and bewildered.

    He matched her frown. And something that looked like suspicion crossed Jack's features. Whatever he was going to say━whatever was on the tip of his tongue: questions, accusations, Clara didn't know ... he chose not to say them. For some reason, Jack chose to ignore them, and instead, he explained to her: "You went through an Inhuman transformation, Clara. You have the gene. If you don't have your I.D. with you, they'll suspect you, they'll run tests━that's the last thing you want. You know he is looking for you. It's a risk for you to go outside anyway."

     Clara's heart jolted. Her breath hitched. "Looking for me?" she repeated, a dreadful feeling weighing in her chest. She met Jack's gaze with a demanding one of her own. "Who━who is looking for me?"

    Jack gaped, finding her question absurd. But he answered it anyway: "The Doctor."

     An incredulous expression knitted at her brows. "Er━" she let out, "━Doctor who?"

    He continue to frown at her. "Uh ... I don't know his real name. But you always seemed to━who━who━?" he leaned in and their words were hushed whispers by the exit, "━Who are you? I━you're not Clara. At least, you're not the Clara I know...?"

    The programming was smart, too. 

    Clara realised that her ruse with Jack had ended. She was going to have to tell him the truth━or at least ... a part of the truth. She pursed her lips, "Jack," she said, "do you trust me? I need you to trust me right now."

     Despite his words, he nodded anyway, "Yeah. Yeah, of course, I do."

    "I am Clara," she said to him in a rushed whisper. "I am Clara Roy. But you're right, I'm not the Clara you knew. She's still in a coma. But people I care about are in danger, and I need to find them. I'll explain, I promise. But if you're following me, we need to leave now, okay?"

    Jack nodded. He was stunned and confused, but he nodded. "All right. Let's go."

✲══〖✰〗══✲

(April 30th, 2017
The Framework)

   CLARA EXPLAINED what she could to Jack as they left the base unnoticed. But it was hard at each gasp and shocked breathless, "What?" he made each time she short-circuited a camera, opened a door without using the handle, or anytime she used her powers with little care━manipulating the energy of the Framework to do what she wanted in small little things. She knew her trick back in the medical pod would have caught the attention of A.I.D.A back home, or Radcliffe in here. But she couldn't care less. She wanted them to know she had been underestimated. She wanted them to know she was angry. She wanted them to know that she was going to make them pay for what they had done to her friends━her family, and she was going to do anything possible to make sure she got them back. 

    She was a doctor above all else; that was a decision she made and she was proud of that. But she was also finished with ignoring what she can do. Her powers were not Hive's, nor were they the Sokovia Accord's or anybody else's━they were hers, and she had learnt the long and hard lesson that she could use them when she wanted, and how she wanted. And when it came to finding her friends and protecting them━saving them, she held no hesitation in using them for that purpose. Because yes, she was a doctor. Her powers were hers to use to help and save lives on her own terms.

    When they eventually made it out of the base and walked freely down the street just outside what was a diner back in her world, was an abandoned industrial field here, Jack turned to her and whispered: "Who are you? A Wanda Maximoff rip-off?"

    Clara rolled her eyes. Off-handedly, she wondered what had happened to the Avengers in this world━where they were. "No," she said the word she has replied with multiple times. "Technically she's a mutant and got her powers through the experimentation of the Mind Stone━the Sokovia Accords go into a long in-depth scientific report of it."

    "The what Stone?"

    "I'm an Inhuman," went on the doctor, missing his question as she exploded into her rant. "These powers are from genes that were already there. Nothing about me was mutated. Nothing about me can control minds or ... Bloody hell, I don't even know what scientifically explains what Wanda Maximoff can do but I am not a copy-cat, or a rip-off, or a Wanda-wannabe━I manipulate energy. I━"

    "Move things with your mind?" offered Jack. "Maybe control people's minds? You just can use the energy of the world completely of your own will to do what you want..." he shrugged, scoffing it off sarcastically, "... no ... not a rip-off at all..."

    "I'm not━!" Clara quickly realised Jack was joking by the way he held back a smirk. She found herself scoffing a chuckle, shaking her head. "Look," she then said, amused, "I for sure know I can't read or control minds. I will give you a whole speech about the scientific differences between us later but right now, there are more important things."

    Her Framework friend nodded his head, understanding. They were walking down the street, hoping to find a car they could steal to make the rest of the distance. Even Clara knew it was suspicious to see two strangers walking around an area like this. "We need to find people."

    "Yes."

    "Who?"

     "My friends," Clara said, frowning at the long stretch of road in front of them. "They have been trapped in this world, and I need to find them and take them back to ours."

    "Oh, so, like the Multiverse, or something━that exists?" he said all of this very calmly, that she didn't know how to take it. Because if there was anything that the Multiverse was, it wasn't something that could be calmly stated. 

    "Uh ..." she pursed her lips and lied: "Yes, something like that."

    Jack fiddled with his graphic tee-shirt. "Right..." he mumbled to himself. "So ... in your universe, are we friends?" she glanced at him at this, not sure what she was supposed to say. He recognised the hesitance she held and tugged his shirt nervously. "I just━I just ask, because ... when you saw me, you ... you didn't know me and once you did ... you said my name as if ... as if it was a shock I'd even be here."

     "We're friends," she rushed out, but even she knew it didn't sound convincing. "I was just ..." Clara quickly tried to come up with something to reassure him. "I was just surprised to see you as you are ... back ... back where I'm from━" she racked her brain with everything Leith had managed to tell her. It wasn't much. He rarely spoke of Jack, "━you, uh, you own a bookstore, so..."

     She was glad that he left it there. But she could see he didn't quite believe her, and she swallowed harshly. Jack took a deep breath and got back onto the situation at hand. "Who are your friends?"

     "Daisy and Jemma," informed Roy. "They came into this world with me, I need to rendezvous with them so we can find the others and come up with a plan. But ... but right now, I need to find someone else first. His name's Phil Coulson."

    Jack frowned. He thought about the name and then shook his head, "Haven't heard of him.'

    "You haven't?" 

    "No. Should I? Is he somebody important?"

    Clara considered this. If Jack didn't know who Coulson was, that must mean he wasn't connected to S.H.I.E.L.D., which meant ... which meant he could be anywhere. "He's just ..." she muttered, distracted. "He's just somebody."

    "Doesn't sound like just somebody?"

    Agent Roy hung her gaze. "He's important to me," she found herself saying. "He found me and gave me a second chance. And a third. And a fourth. He believed in me when I didn't. He's ..." she swallowed a sudden lump in her throat, "... He's not my father, but I just ... I just need to find him."

   Jack watched her curiously. "Yeah," he then promised. "Yeah, we'll find him. Don't worry."

    She let out a sigh, "Yeah, yeah, I know." She cleared her throat and clenched her hands, determined. "And then after him, we can find Fitz. We just need to grab ourselves a car, and then go somewhere that has a computer and━"

    "Look out━!" Jack grabbed her arm and tugged her behind the side of the fence; they dropped down low at the intersection, taking shelter pressed right against it. Clara struggled, confused, but he tugged her closer and whispered, "Don't move!"

    "What is it?" she asked, startled. She tried to glance around━Jack threw a hand out to hold her in front of the shoulders up against the corrugated iron. 

    She frowned at him and saw his gaze directly upwards. She followed. Her frown deepened to hear a low, whirring buzz in her ear. Clara's lips parted, a breathless hitch of confusion the moment she saw it: a medium-sized drone, nothing particularly daunting, pass over them. It stopped mid-air, aloft with an intelligent design━a design she knew because she recognised the drone. 

     Her heart pounded a beat she didn't quite understand. Or maybe she was scared to think about what it meant. It was the same design━the same shape and the same propeller flight pattern ... it was more advanced than the last set she had developed with Fitz, but it was definitely one of their D.W.A.R.V.E.S. 

     "It should pass over," Jack was whispering. "Then we'll be able to keep going, and it won't see us━hey━!" he tried to grab Clara but she was too fast. He watched her, horrified as she threw her hand out and in a burst of gold in the daylight, the drone was struck. It fell to the ground at her feet and she picked it up. 

    Jack tugged at his hair, "Oh, my God━you are mad." He told her. "You are really crazy. I━I mean you were always crazy but you're even more crazy━"

    She ignored him, taking the drone back to him with her. As he did, he continued his frantic words: "━You're trying to get us killed, aren't you? Do you even know what those are? Who they belong to━?" his words were cut off as she turned it onto his back and pressed a trigger that opened the drone's underside like a set of double doors. "What in the name of━?"

    "I do know what these are," muttered Clara, running a finger along the inner workings as she searched for what she was looking for. "Though the design is far more advanced than we have ever achieved yet back home, this is definitely Sleepy."

    "Sleepy?"

    "He's one of our best listeners," smiled Clara to herself. "Besides me, of course━oh! Here we go..." she found what she wanted and lightly unclipped a switch. There, revealed a USB port. She started to pull out the connector, "Do you have a smart phone? Is it encrypted?"

    "Uh ... yeah?" Jack awkwardly passed her his phone and she connected it at the charger port. He watched her, dumbfounded as she unlocked his phone without a passcode and started to scroll through a tab he was sure he never had on that device before. 

     "We put in this connector in case we ever needed to extract information and we didn't have the tablet," explained Clara as she did, happy to see something familiar━something that was her's and Fitz's. It told her, that somewhere, somehow, he was around. And she could find him━she could find everyone with this. "Schematics, levels of radiation, minerals in the soil ... the weather ... but most importantly," she flashed Jack a grin. She didn't notice how gaunt he looked, "people. Grumpy, of course, is our best people finder, but Sleepy isn't bad at it when he wants to be."

    She found the search bar and typed in the name she wanted: Philip Coulson. As it loaded, she glanced back down into the hatch and tenderly checked the workings. And her smile returned when she saw her handwriting engraved inside it: Grumpy >:(. (At least some part of her life was still the same, here). 

     Jack's phone buzzed and she gasped, turning back to it. Her grin broadened when she found all of the information she needed. She scrolled through the documents and saw a location that made her chuckle, "He's a school teacher," she murmured, showing Jack. "Coulson always loved history ... he'd be good at it."

    But her friend's expression had not changed. As she screen-shotted what she needed, he asked her in a dry tone, "You ... how do you know all of this?"

    "Oh, that's easy," she continued to look for the GPS, hoping to track the drone's path back to where it belonged. That way, she could definitely find Fitz. "I helped design them. We named them after Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Fitz did most of the work, obviously. He's engineering, while I'm just medical and Simmons is biochem━but we're a team..."

    Her words fell away as she managed to pinpoint their home location. She frowned, confused. "I ... I don't understand," she murmured. "This says the Triskelion in Washington D.C ... but ... what's Fitz doing at the Triskelion...?"

    "You helped make these?"

    "Yes, of course, I did, but..."

     "Clara," the severity of Jack's voice made her glance over. She frowned.

    "What?"

    He tapped a shaky hand onto the drone, as if he as scared it would explode in his face. "These drones belong to The Doctor and Madame Hydra━to HYDRA."

     Her heart dropped. Even then, she didn't listen to it. She didn't believe the poisonous breath she suddenly breathed. "What?" she chuckled again, shaking her head. "That doesn't make sense. These are Fitz's drones━our drones ..." something choked in her throat. She didn't like the way Jack was looking at her. "Fitz isn't━Fitz would never━you're━" she shook her head, "━you're wrong."

     Jack hesitated. "C━Clara━"

    "You're wrong," she told him again, growing desperate. "Fitz isn't. This━this Doctor must have stolen these ideas because━because I know Fitz. He wouldn't━he isn't ... No matter what world he is in━What do you think, that he's a bad person? That he's━he's this Doctor?" Jack stammered, trying to get a word in, but she was starting to grow frantic. Tears welled up in her eyes, not wanting to listen to the truth that was right in front of her. "Is that what you're trying to say? He isn't. He can't be━"

    "That's not what I'm saying━"

    "━that's exactly what you're saying. But you're wrong," Clara's breath she then hitched was heavy. "He's a good person. I━I have to find him. We'll find him and you'll see that you're wrong. There━there has to be some sort of explanation━"

    A flash made her stop. She blinked, started as she stared back at the camera lens that closed from inside the drone. She didn't even get a chance to think about what happened before Jack was on his feet. "We gotta get out of here."

    "What━?" she didn't want to leave; she had to find where Fitz was. Figure out what happened to him. "No━"

    Jack dragged her back onto her feet. He tugged the cord away from his phone. "They have your face━we need to get out of here!"

    "But━" she started to tear up, her voice locking up in the back of her throat. "No, I can't━" Clara was pulled away from the drone, "━I need to find him!"

    "Oh, don't worry about that," said Jack as they sprinted away. "I'm pretty sure, now, he'll find you. And believe me, Clara, you don't want that."

✲══〖✰〗══✲

(April 30th, 2017

The Framework)

    THEY STOLE THE nearest car they could find. Clara held little care at this moment to know where Jack learnt to hot-wire a car━or how it had been evolved into his programming, she had to remind herself. She sat in the passenger seat, quiet, as they sped their way towards D.C. The only time she spoke was to argue that they were to find Coulson, but Jack insisted they had no time for that anymore. Clara needed to rendezvous with her friends and they needed to figure out whatever plan they had. Because now that HYDRA had her picture, he told her, it would be only a matter of time before they were going to be followed━she was going to be followed. And she quickly learnt that this world was not kind to Inhumans, at all. 

     The day was turning into evening━getting darker and darker as they ventured closer to Washington. Clara stared out of the car window, glum and with a heavy heart. She thought she had her plan sorted out, coming into the Framework. She knew who she was going to find, and she was determined to get them out. Now, she realised, it was going to be a lot more complicated. 

     Jack glanced at her carefully. He pursed his lips and fiddled with the leather bracelet he had on his wrist as he held the wheel. "You ... uh ... you sometimes talked about how you had a past with The Doctor. I didn't realise ... I didn't realise that ..."

    "Realise what?" she asked miserably. 

     "That it was something━well━" Jack pursed his lips and tapped his fingers on the wheel, "━it sounds like you love━loved him."

     Clara chose to stay silent, not wanting to believe that somehow, in this world, Fitz had become this horrible, evil figure. That wasn't who he was. No matter what has gone wrong in his life, Clara has always known him to stand out on the other end a better man. The bigger man. He always helped people instead of trying to destroy them. Everything he did was from the kindest heart she knew━and she loved him for it. When she nearly couldn't come out the other side as the better person, Fitz was always there to give her the strength and remind her that she could. She could never fathom how that person ever had the capacity for wrong. 

     Jack pursed his lips at her silence. "We always knew The Doctor was looking for you. It was why Ward helped you fake your death, and you hid out with the Resistance. Ward joined HYDRA to spy on them, not just for the cause but to make sure they never found you. But The Doctor never stopped trying. Now I guess ... I mean, now I sort of understand why. You went to the Academy together, and then ..."

     "Then what?" she asked, gaze dull.

     He met her gaze briefly, "Well ... he ... he betrayed you. You risked your life for him and it was for nothing."

     An understanding washed over Clara, "The bottom of the ocean..." she breathed. She shook her head. "No, I know Fitz," she said to Jack stubbornly. "He's not some thoughtless, horrible person."

    "Maybe not in your world. But here? He's something to be feared."

     "That can't be true," she looked away when she heard Jack sigh. "I know him. He nearly gave up his life for me, more than once. When I went through Terrigenesis, Fitz was there to tell me that it was okay to be different. He made me feel still rooted to the ground━he made me feel as if these powers I had that I didn't understand were something beautiful..."

      "And what about Ward?"

     The question made her frown. "What about him?"

     Jack stared, surprised. "Ward has done everything to protect you and keep you safe. He has fought and he has nearly given his life. He would do anything for you, don't you love him?"

     Clara stammered. She didn't know what to say. The idea of Ward doing what he said was absurd━and yet, at the same time it wasn't. No matter all the horrible things he has done, Ward had always turned heaven and earth to keep his crazed promise to Clarissa until he died. She swallowed, her tongue dry. 

     He sighed, "I know he says that there are things about him that if you knew, you wouldn't like━"

     Roy let out a bitter chuckle, "Oh, believe me," she returned her gaze, now a scowl, back out the window, "I know."

    They didn't speak another word until they reached the city. Then their only discussion was Clara directing Jack to the park where they had set up their rendezvous point. It was now night, and when they parked on the side of the road and got out, the visibility of any drone finding Roy at this time of night was not impossible, but very unlikely. So unlikely that she stepped out into the open towards the park bench they had hid the trigger. 

     Clara was relieved when she saw somebody already standing there. Her hair was longer in this world, but even in the dark of the night, Roy recognised Daisy Johnson like it was still day. 

     And her shoulders slumped━she let out a slight, desperate cry: "Daisy━!"

     Her friend spun around, and when she saw her, she noticed Daisy's gaze brighten. "Clara!" 

     The two ran to each other and embraced tightly. Clara took a deep breath, shedding a few tears as she felt the arms of her close friend━flesh and bone and something she knew was real in this fabric of a universe. "Oh, thank God━!" breathed Daisy, holding her with the same desperate relief. "I thought━"

     Clara clenched her jacket tight in her fists. "I'm alive."

    Daisy pulled away, shaking her head. "When they found you, I left straight away━" she pursed her lips, the same hesitation Jack held washing over her face. "C━Clara, there's something you should know ..."

     Roy noticed a figure over Daisy's shoulder, and she was glad that she didn't have to hear someone else tell her that Fitz wasn't who she knew he was. "Simmons!"

     Daisy glanced back, too. She breathed a little sob and held out her arms. The remaining part of their little team arrived. Jemma looked terrible. She was dirty, her hair was matted━underneath the coat she wore, was an outfit nearly in tatters. She looked as if she had just clawed her way out of her own grave. 

    "Oh, my God━!" her voice was hoarse and cracked, leaping into their arms. "I was so worried!" cried Jemma. As she pulled away, she noticed something Roy hadn't about Daisy's outfit━she pointed out the badge clipped to her leather jacket. "Wait, you're HYDRA?"

     Daisy sighed, "It's a long story. I saw that you were dead!" She stopped, staring at Simmons warily. "Wait ... are you still dead?"

     Jemma flattened her hair, momentarily offended, "No━" her voice broke. "I'm feeling much better, thank you."

     "So, you're okay?"

     She nodded. "Yeah."

     "You were supposed to be buried in the UK."

     Simmons rolled her eyes. She scoffed, "More like a mass grave at the Academy. The story's a cover-up. I think HYDRA murdered me."

     "They did."

     At the sound of Jack, both of Roy's friends glanced over. Daisy immediately went to grab her gun, defensive but Clara held her hand out. "No━!" she whispered frantically. "No, no, we can trust him. He's━he's a friend."

     Simmons frowned at Jack, and Clara glanced between the two of them. She saw a flicker of recognition, and she was scared to say something━not sure on how Jemma will react to know that Leith's dead love was very much alive, here. 

      "So," Jack eyed Daisy warily. He shuffled a little bit away from her, "are these your friends from the Multiverse?"

     Simmons made a face, "The Multiverse━?" she turned to Clara for an explanation, she hoped she could see her desperate beg for her to go along with it in the dark. Thankfully, she did, "Uh, yes. The━er━the Multiverse!"

     "Who are you?" demanded Daisy.

     "This is Jack," said Clara slowly, watching Simmons carefully. "He━he helped me get here..." she saw it. She saw the moment where her friend's stare stammered━Roy saw a breath of pain; one she recognised. Jemma understood, and yet she didn't want to. She didn't want to think that Leith might not even know who she was in this world, even though the obvious stood right in front of her. 

      Jemma took a sharp breath through her nose and held out her palm grimed with dirt. Then she forced a smile on her face━and there was some part of it that really was genuine. "It's nice to meet you, Jack," she said kindly.

      Jack awkwardly shook it. "You too ..." he muttered, incredulous at the sight of her.

     "Did you find the extraction beacon?" Daisy spoke up, wanting to keep on track. 

     Jemma nodded. She pulled it out of her coat sleeve, "Exactly where we programmed it."

     Daisy set her jaw, relieved. "Okay. We have to get out of here. HYDRA is after Clara. We have to get somewhere safe."

    Jemma frowned at this, "What?" she glanced at Roy who tried to explain, but at Daisy's tug on her sleeve, she knew there was no time. 

     They started down the set of stairs that took them out of the park and back towards the road. Jack followed, continuously glancing over his shoulder to make sure they weren't being tracked. "She picked apart a drone," he said as he did. "The thing took a picture of her."

     "That thing is Sleepy," corrected Roy. "And in my defence, we didn't add a camera function in our world. And if we did, the camera function would belong to Dopey. He's our best at catching people red-handed. Honestly..."

     "How it happened doesn't matter," Daisy muttered, still dragging Clara by her sleeve. "What matters is that we have to get out of here. This place is crazy."

     "You have no idea," agreed Simmons, following behind in between Roy and Jack. "I saw Coulson. He━he's completely different, you wouldn't believe it."

     At the mention of Coulson, Clara perked up. She hitched her breath, worried, "W━what do you mean?"

     "He let HYDRA arrest a child."

     Roy went to object, to say that Coulson would never do such a thing ... but she stopped, because slowly, Clara was begging to realise that this place was far from the home she knew. And she hated it━it scared her. 

     "May's different, too," muttered Daisy as they rushed down the stairwell. "She's like number three in HYDRA and way more damaged than in the real world."

     "Everything's worse here. I woke up buried alive, was ditched on the side of the road, nearly arrested, and found Coulson brainwashing the young."

     Clara bounced her brows, "Yeah, that sounds bad. But wait until you hear how I woke up..."

     Daisy briefly glanced over at Jack, not surprised to find him watching them, concerned. "I wouldn't scare Clara's friend away just yet, Simmons..."

    A twig snapped. 

    They froze in their place, spinning around. Daisy flung up her gun, but when she saw who emerged from the dark cover of the trees, she hesitated. Clara's breath hitched and her heart pounded as she watched Ward step closer, his gun raised in a matching stand down. 

     Simmons frowned, horrified, "Ward..."

    He stopped a few paces in front, eyeing them over the barrel of his gun. "We need to talk."

     Jack and Roy shared a swift glance. She swallowed and carefully held out a hand, "W━Ward━"

     "What are you doing out here?" he cut her off. He gestured the pistol to Jack. "I thought I told you to keep an eye on her." He chuckled nervously, shrugging as if to say, well, you didn't specify how. Before any of them could answer, Ward moved the gun to Simmons. "How did you know my name?" he demanded dangerously. "Who are you? Skye, what have you told her?"

    Both girls made faces, "Skye?" they let out. 

     Ward's brows shot up at this. He took another step, "You have another name?"

    "No," Daisy quickly shook her head. "I━I'm Skye."

    Roy held her breath and took a courageous step forward. Daisy and Simmons tried to stop her, but she ignored them, "Ward," she tried again, as calm as she could manage. "Put the gun down━"

    "HYDRA's after you," he told her and she pressed her lips together. "You took down one of their drones. What's gotten into you? What's gotten into her?" he asked Jack, he shrugged again. "Clara━" Ward kept his gun on Simmons. "Who is she?"

     "She's a friend," Clara held a hand out and the other back at Daisy who was growing more and more frustrated at the second. The last thing any of them needed was a gunshot to give away their location. "You can trust her."

     Simmons turned to Roy, "What is he doing here?!" she asked in a furious whisper. 

     "I'll explain," Clara was growing frantic. She heard shouts behind them━torchlights danced over the trees. Her eyes widened and she cursed to herself. If Ward was here, that meant other HYDRA personnel were in the surrounds, too━they needed to get out of here. 

     "Daisy, they're coming!" said Jemma in an urgent breath. "You need to do something before physic stalker shoots us!"

     "Keep quiet!" Roy didn't want to be rude, but she needed Simmons to hold her words for a moment and listen. "Stop it, stop it━both of you, okay! Ward! Ward," she turned back to the man who had betrayed her, and yet here, he might just be one of the only people Clara could trust. "Ward, look at me."

     He locked her gaze, tense and unsure. She didn't blame him. She took a shaky breath, "Ward," she said again, gentle. "You know I would never betray you━I have never betrayed you, ever."

     A siren echoed out into the night. Clara heard footsteps.

     "They're getting closer," muttered Jack anxiously. 

    "Daisy, put down your gun," Roy ordered. Her friend hesitated. She shot her an urgent scowl. "Daisy, stand down."

     Her friend pursed her lips, but listened. She lowered her fire weapon and Clara fixed her stare back onto Ward who frowned. "I trust you," the words were foreign on her tongue. "Right now, I need you to trust me."

     Ward clenched his grip around his gun. He held it up higher at Simmons. "Skye," he said through gritted teeth. "Is she your source for the Resistance?"

    "What?" let out both Daisy and Simmons.

    "Is she your source━?"

    "No! Ward, I have nothing to do with the Resistance!"

    Ward glanced at Clara again. She pleaded for him to lower his gun. If he was different━in any way━to the Ward she knew back home, she begged that what he felt for her was something loyal and genuine. Please, she mouthed to him. 

    Footsteps pounded behind them. "Here! Over here━!" 

    Bang!

    They all ducked with gasps. The agents behind them fell to the ground. Clara slowly stood back up, breathless at Ward who lowered his weapon back to them. "Well, I do," he told Daisy. He lowered his gun and reached forward to drag Roy towards him. She let him, surprising herself. "Come on! We got to get out of here."

     Ward pushed her to run and she did. The group of them sprinted for the street as flashlights dashed behind them. Clara heard shouts of orders, she didn't waste anytime to glance back and see how many were trailing them. As they reached the car, Jack chucked Ward the keys and he unlocked the doors. They rushed inside. As they did, Simmons cried out: "What the hell is going on?!"

     "No idea!" replied Daisy. 

     As an agent reached the bottom of the stairs, Clara gritted her teeth and threw out her hand. She heard him let out a strangled cry as he was thrown back in a burst of gold. Then she crawled into the back seat of the car, her heart racing. 

     "What the hell?!" Ward asked her as he sparked the ignition. 

    "I'm an Inhuman!"

    "Inhuman of what? Gold lassos?"

    Simmons rolled her eyes, "Ugh," she muttered in distaste to Daisy. 

    "No!" let out Roy, a little taken aback by his description. "Energy."

     She jolted forward in her seat as Ward slammed his foot on the accelerator. She gasped and clung onto the back of the passenger seat. They spun in a wild circle━the tires screeched and skidded on the wet tar before they shot off down the road. Daisy glanced out the back car window and cursed when a set of headlights glared right behind them. Two HYDRA cars were right on their tail. 

     This didn't faze Ward. He kept a firm hand on the wheel, pushing a steady fast pace. "Skye!" he said loudly as he did. "There's no god way to tell you this, but ... I had the test results when you were screened. You're an Inhuman."

    Daisy kept an eye on the cars behind them. "I know," she said off-handedly.

    Ward risked a stare through his rearview mirror. "You know?"

    They reached an intersection. Ward flung them to a hard left, avoiding the car that dashed through with a furious blare of its horn. He spun the wheel and they dipped into the next street. Clara gasped and ducked when she heard gunshots bounce off the side of the car. She hid her head in her arms when the back window shattered over them. 

     Ward cursed. Jack squealed, hiding his head in shaky hands in the front seat. "Cover us!" 

     Daisy pushed herself to sit up and positioned her gun over the edge of the seat. She fired three shots back. One struck the headlight of the car━the third ricochetted off the windscreen. Clara was at her side in a second, "Hang on!" she called out. Understanding what she was going to do, Daisy fired one last shot to cover her before leaning back to give Roy room. 

    With a deep breath, she extended one hand out. She closed her eyes as she felt the Framework around her restricting. She pushed through, holding out her other palm. She clenched her jaw until she felt it tug at her fingers and she pulled. She twisted the rubber-band back, clenching her fingers in. She pulled and she pulled, and vines of gold energy lifted out from the road. They slithered around the vehicles wheels━

    Roy snapped her palms together and the wheels sprung away from the car. They hit the lampposts, building walls and flew into alleyways. The car jolted━it fell forward; it tipped and it spun at the momentum; windows shattered and the sides dented. Ward forced their car to go faster to avoid being crushed in the process, but Clara wasn't finished. She turned her palm to face upwards and the car froze mid-spin. It lifted in the air, warped in her energy━and amongst the gold, there were flickers; glitches of blue as the world around her desperately tried to fight against her control. 

     Clara pushed both hands out and the car flung backwards into the one behind it. The shattering crash! echoed into the night; they rolled backwards, they wrapped around each other. Until they hit the tar and skidded apart, a mess of shattered windows, scratched surfaces and ripped metal. Those inside had no chance of surviving. 

     She knew Jack and Ward were giving her horrified glances. 

    Roy sat back in her seat, letting out a huff of air━she was exhausted. "Just drive, I'll explain later."

     Simmons went to check on her, gently grasping her arm. As she did, she asked Ward, "So, you're HYDRA? And you've been protecting Roy?"

     "Yeah," he took them down another left. They bounced off the side of the gutter. "That's why I jointed the Resistance."

     She chuckled bitterly, "Always the double agent." She met Clara's gaze. "And this is who you woke up with? You two are together?"

     She winced sheepishly.

    "Ugh!" Jemma slumped in her seat. "This isn't the Framework. This is Hell."

     Agent Roy couldn't help but agree.

✲══〖✰〗══✲

    a/n: I'm still allliiiivvvveeee! 

    some changes up to the framework for this book cos u know oc's. leith is director, mace is still around don't worry. clara has beef with framework!fitz lol. 

     also this chapter is just me roasting myself for accidentally making clara's powers similar to wanda's. any reference to wanda in these books is literally just that believe me. I'm breaking fourth wall constantly to roast myself. 

     I'm back after a few months and the chapter still isn't the best. ugh.

    (limited editing). 

    (JACK)