Chapter 47: Supervisor Dante

Grant Ward froze.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Don't overthink it. I mean it literally," Dante said coolly. "Only by helping me with a few things will you get to keep your life—and your secrets."

He didn't give Ward room to argue. Wouldn't have entertained it anyway.

Ward seemed to be weighing the pros and cons. His expression darkened, unreadable.

"So… what do I get out of this?"

"What? You want benefits?" Dante looked at him like he'd grown an extra head. "I'm letting a HYDRA agent live. What more do you want? That's already the golden ticket, buddy."

"…Alright. Got it."

Grant Ward wasn't loyal to America.

He wasn't loyal to HYDRA.

He sure as hell wasn't loyal to John Garrett.

The only thing Ward ever served was himself.

Survival above all.

So, he stayed silent.

Dante finally let his smirk fade. "Looks like you've come to terms with it. Good. First thing you need to do… is kill someone."

"Kill who?"

"Oh, there's more than one," Dante said breezily. "First up: Agent Sitwell. One of the top officials in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Most of the HYDRA moles in the Bureau were brought in by him. And the guy's network of political contacts? A roach nest. He's got half of Capitol Hill tangled in HYDRA threads."

Dante's tone chilled.

"So you're gonna kill him."

He paused, then added, "And while you're at it, send all those HYDRA-colluding politicians straight to hell. It's probably a long list. But for your own life, I trust you'll get it done."

"…You're more HYDRA than HYDRA."

With that, he held up his hand—and transformed it partially into diamond.

Then slowly ground the beer bottle in front of him into glittering glass powder.

Ward's eyes widened like saucers.

"You… you have powers besides self-healing?"

Dante gave him a smug look and retracted the transformation.

"Who told you I only had one ability? Even if I did, I'd still be able to beat you into a meat smoothie. Now get lost, Grant Ward. And don't forget to tell Coulson you're off the team."

Ward stood, eyes flicking between fear and gratitude, and backed out fast.

Faced with the choice between killing others and dying himself… he picked others. Instantly.

Dante watched him leave, lips curling into a cold sneer.

Sure, he remembered the major players, but the intricate web of HYDRA influence in the political arena? That was still fuzzy.

But Ward knew.

And nothing cleans out a roach nest better than turning one of the roaches loose on the others.

As for Sitwell—that shiny-headed bastard—Dante hadn't expected him to survive the last HYDRA purge. And yet, here he was, still hiding under Maria Hill's chain of command.

The FBI still needed a good old-fashioned purge. And not a single HYDRA agent was getting a free pass this time.

Luckily, cleaning house would be easy.

The X-Men alone had over a dozen telepaths.

Psychics were very good at sniffing out moles.

Didn't matter how deep the brainwashing went—no lie held up under mental scan.

Thinking of this, Dante suddenly smacked his forehead and jumped up to open a portal.

…

Three days later.

Phil Coulson stood outside the airborne command center and addressed the team.

"With regret, I'm here to inform you that Agent Grant Ward has, for personal reasons, withdrawn from the Special Emergency Team."

"But in his place, we welcome a new member: FBI Level 7 Agent Melinda May. Recruited into the Bureau by none other than America General Bureau's first Director—Peggy Carter. And she used to be my partner."

The younger team members clapped and cheered.

Melinda May walked calmly up to the group, gave a curt nod, then shot Coulson a look sharp enough to cut glass.

"You said this team had two science nerds and one forensics girl. Now there's a hacker baby too?"

She looked straight at Skye, who suddenly seemed very interested in her shoes.

"This team already has two non-combat liabilities. And now there's a third?"

"Ahem," Coulson cleared his throat quickly under her death glare. "While Skye wasn't part of the initial lineup, she's proven that a top-tier hacker is too valuable to ignore."

"However," he continued, "Skye told me she doesn't just want to stay behind a screen. She wants to train as a field Agent. For that, I've assigned her a personal supervisor."

"Supervisor?" May narrowed her eyes and scanned the squad—her gaze settling on Oliver Queen and Wade Wilson.

Green Arrow and Deadpool. Definitely looked like combat-ready babysitters.

But then, right on cue, a portal opened beside her.

Dante stepped out, casually adjusting his jacket and coming to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her.

"Dante. I've heard a lot about you."

They shook hands.

"So you're the one assigned to the hacker baby?"

"Yep. I'll be sticking with Coulson's crew for a while."

"Oh? What about the Star Team?"

"They're off on a one-month war training program," Dante said, visibly shuddering. "Our Death Goddess is running it."

Training… from a god.

Ada and Harley were fine—they were into that kind of thing—but the pitiful little eyes of Wanda and Pietro?

Dante honestly couldn't bear to look.

Utter misery.

(To be continued.)

***

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