Titanium ~A Bucky Barnes Love Story~

Chapter Eighteen

"What are you doing here?" Grant asked dubiously, walking over to the invisible wall and placing his hands on it, a small force field glowing around his palms.

"The reason why I am here is none of your concern," Caden snapped. "Don't waste my time with any more of your questions. I'm here for a sole purpose, and then I will hopefully never, ever, have to lay eyes on you again."

Grant smirked at Caden. "Still as feisty as ever, aren't you, Cady?" He asked smugly.

"Shut up!" Caden yelled, taking a step forward. "Don't call me that, Ward," she hissed. "Just answer my questions and I'll get out of here."

"What's in it for me?" Grant asked, pretending to think over Caden's demand.

Caden's demeanor suddenly changed from commanding to desperation. "Just... Tell me what I need to know," she said pleadingly.

"Anything," Grant said with that real, fake sincerity.

"Why?" She simply asked. "Why Hydra? What did they offer you that S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't?"

Grant groaned, shaking his head. "They offered me a life, Caden, freedom. Something you could never understand. S.H.I.E.L.D., they are so controlling, and demanding. Hydra gave me the chance to get out, to fend for myself. That never would have happened in S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Grant, I didn't know about your past, about your brother."

"It doesn't matter what you knew," Grant interrupted. "It wouldn't have changed the fact that you're one of them"

"See, that's why you fit in so perfectly, Ward," Caden said, starting to walk around the room. "You lie and cheat and murder, in the service of liars and murderers, to help no one other than your pathetic self. Maybe that's why nobody realized you were the rat for all those years."

"That's what Garrett said," Grant smirked.

"John Garrett," Caden snapped. "Was a sociopath who became one of you because he misheard a word in one of Fury's damned "one man" speeches. Tell me, Grant, what did you even see in that man?" She walked over to the invisible wall, putting her fist on it. "What could he ever give you?" She shouted, her anger starting to return.

"He gave me freedom!" Grant shouted back. "He got me out of prison. Caden, he showed me how to be a man."

"Oh, come on!" Caden rolled her eyes. "Grant, he didn't show you anything, other than how to be a murderer and a traitor."

"I'm not a traitor, Caden," Grant said. "I was never a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

"You were, Ward!" Caden pounded on the invisible wall. "You were and you knew it!" She sighed, running a hand through her dark brown hair. "You worked hard, Grant, you were one of our best field agents. Records compared you to Romanoff, for God's sake. You were a good man. You gained everyone's trust. And then what did you do? You take all that trust, throw it all into one big pile, soak it in gasoline, and light it on fire."

"Hydra is the future of our world, Caden," Grant said. "Not S.H.I.E.L.D. Only the ones who have accepted that can understand the wonderful mind of Hydra."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. grows stronger every day," Caden said defiantly.

"It was destroyed once," Grant shrugged. "Who's to say it won't be again?"

Caden started to back away from the cell. It was hopeless.

This was all so hopeless!

"Why did I even come down here?" She muttered. "Did I really think I'd be able to talk some sense into you?"