Grant Ward

"I'm Clearance Level Six. I know that... Agent Coulson was killed in action before the battle of New York. Got the full report." "Welcome to Level 7."

- Grant Ward and Phil Coulson

Grant Ward is a Level 7 S.H.I.E.L.D. operative. Though he is highly trained in combat and espionage, he sometimes fails at interpersonal relations. He’s a man of few words, but always cool under fire and ready for action. During HYDRA's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ward shot Victoria Hand as well as other agents and showed his alliance towards HYDRA operative and the Clairvoyant, John Garrett.

Early life
"Have you ever killed anyone?" "Yes, a few. High-risk targets. But they were terrible people who were trying to murder nice people. And I didn't feel good afterwards."

- Skye and Grant Ward

Grant Ward grew up in the Massachusetts area amid a difficult childhood. He had an abusive older brother who would frequently beat Ward and his younger brother. It was for this reason that Ward learned self-defense, to be able to protect his younger brother.

An incident in particular that had a profound effect on Ward, was when his older brother threw his younger brother into a well and sought to prevent Ward from rescuing him. Ward eventually managed to do it without his brother knowing the incident causing Ward to feel hate the first time against his brother. At some point in time, he joined the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.), rising through the ranks under the tutelage of his Supervising Officer, John Garrett. Deputy Director Maria Hill gave Ward top marks in combat and the highest espionage rating since Natasha Romanoff, giving him low marks only in his people skills.

In 2008, Ward saw action in Georgia during a rebel uprising. He made several contacts along the South Ossetian border during this time.

Mission in Paris
"Something turns up like this Chitauri neural link... we get to it before someone bad does." "Any idea who Vanchat was planning to sell it to?"

- Grant Ward and Maria Hill Grant Ward was assigned to a mission in Paris, France. He was assigned to break into a hidden vault belonging to international criminal, Vanchat and steal a Chitauri neural link which Vanchat was going to sell. After taking the link he was discovered and fought his way to the top of the building, where he was extracted by helicopter.

Coulson's team
"This is definitely not protocol."

- Grant Ward to Phil Coulson

When Agent Phil Coulson assembled a new team of specialists to investigate new, strange and unknown threats, he wanted Ward on his team, and promoted him to Level 7 clearance. With fellow team members, Phil Coulson, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, Melinda May, and Rising Tide hacker Skye they travel the globe searching for possible threats to both the people and S.H.I.E.L.D.

Acting As Skye's S.O.
"I don't ever want to do another pull-up again." "You ever find yourself hanging off the edge of a building twenty stories up, you're gonna want to do at least one."

- Skye and Grant Ward

During the team's first mission together, they encountered a Rising Tide "hacktivist" known only as Skye, who was their only lead in the case of Michael Peterson. Having had some negative encounters with Rising Tide after their release of classified data during ongoing operations, Ward took an instant dislike to Skye. After the mission, Coulson recruited her to the team as a consultant, over Ward's objections.

However, after Skye's quick thinking saved his life while taking back the Bus from Camilla Reyes' hijackers, Ward began to see that she could be a solid asset to S.H.I.E.L.D. Ward agreed to take her on as her "Supervising Officer", who would oversee her training and education. Ward began her training, but felt that Skye wasn't fully commiting herself to it or S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson suggested a different, more personal approach. Ward responded by giving some details of his personal life to Skye, describing his "defining moment" to Skye.

During the operation to rescue Dr. Franklin Hall in Malta, Ward objected when Skye volunteered to infiltrate the compound of Ian Quinn, citing the facts that she wasn't nearly qualified yet for such an operation. When Skye completed her mission, allowing Ward and Coulson to infiltrate the compound, she used Ward's training to good effect, but had to rescued by Ward in the end. After the op, Skye seemed to fully commit herself to her training and S.H.I.E.L.D. However, a few weeks later, the team was seemingly betrayed by Skye, who alerted her boyfriend, hacker Miles Lydon, that S.H.I.E.L.D. was closing in on him while tracking down a leak that endangered the life of Hong Kong resident Chan Ho Yin. Ward cuffed Skye and took her and Lydon into custody aboard the Bus. When Ward produced evidence that Lydon had accepted payment of one million dollars for the information that endangered Chan's life, Skye was infuriated and felt betrayed by Lydon.

Later, when the operation to extract Chan from captivity by the "Centipede Group" went bad, Ward released Skye from custody and accepted her help in rescuing Coulson and Melinda May. Skye very quickly managed to hack "Centipede's" mainframe and release the locked doors, allowing Coulson and May to escape. Coulson later agreed to let Skye remain on the team as long as she came completely clean with the team and agreed to wear a tracking and monitoring bracelet at all times.

Ward continues to serve as Skye's S.O., but refuses to give her his trust again until he feels that she has earned it.

Other Actions
While undercover in Zloda, Belarus, attempting to maintain the cover of compromised S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Akela Amador, Ward infiltrated a research facility where he observed a complex equation believed by the higher-ups at S.H.I.E.L.D. to possibly be alien in origin.

When the team had a stopover at the installation known as The Hub, Agent Victoria Hand assigned Ward and Agent Leo Fitz on a mission to Russia to destroy an enemy weapon known as the "Overkill Device".

Ward went into the assignment watching the back of the inexperienced Fitz, but despite a few mistakes, Fitz surprised Ward with his quick thinking, adaptability and courage during the assignment.

Dark Past
Later after Thor saved the Earth from the wraith of Malekith and the Dark Elves, Ward along with the rest of the team and S.H.I.E.L.D proceeded to clean up the mess the battle had left Greenwich with. Later they were called to investigate the mystical weapon known as the Berserker Staff which had been discovered by Norse Paganist leaders Jakob Nystrom and Petra Larsen. While searching for the next piece Ward came across the piece and Professor Elliot Randolph but as he attempted to take it off him the Staff infected Ward with it's mystical strength but it also shined a dark memory he had long hidden. As the effects of the Staff continued to affect Ward his anger seemed rise to new levels causing him to lash out on his own team members.

The team finally located the final piece thanks to Elliot Randolph who was revealed to be the Asgardian soldier who hid the Staff. When Grant and the team arrived they were confronted by Jakob who had beat them to the location. Seeing no other choice Grant grabed a piece of the Staff and attacked Jakob who after a diffcult battle was defeated by Ward who then procceded to defeat the remainig Paganist all while fighting through his own dark memory causing him to collaspe. Suddenly Petra and another member arrived only to be defeated by Melinda May who had taken the Staff off of him to help. Later at a bar Ward apologized to Skye who let him know if he ever needed to talk she was there. As he went to his room he saw May with a bottle who after a brief look entered her own room with the door open with Ward soon following.

Personality
"I'm agent Grant Ward. I could rupture your spleen with my left pinky... blindfolded."

- Jemma Simmons imitating Grant Ward

Grant Ward generally has a bad temper but is able to stay calm and collected during sticky situations. He is slightly anti-social with strong morals and is known to be 'deadly'. On his days off, however, one could see him either enjoying a nice book or even singing along to his favorite West Side Story verse.

Relationships

 * Maynard Ward - Older Brother
 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Nick Fury - S.H.I.E.L.D. Director
 * Maria Hill - S.H.I.E.L.D. Deputy Director
 * Victoria Hand - S.H.I.E.L.D. Superior Officer
 * John Garrett - S.H.I.E.L.D Supervising Officer (former)
 * Antoine Triplett - S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague and friend
 * Coulson's Team
 * Phil Coulson - Team leader
 * Melinda May - Teammate and former lover
 * Jemma Simmons - Teammate
 * Leo Fitz - Teammate
 * Skye - Enemy turned Teammate and pupil
 * Michael Peterson - Ally
 * Sif - Ally
 * Akela Amador - Enemy turned ally
 * Camilla Reyes - Enemy
 * Ian Quinn - Enemy
 * Brian Hayward - Enemy
 * Luca Russo - Enemy
 * Carlo Mancini - Enemy
 * Sofia - Enemy
 * Lorelei - Enemy turned enthraller