"You're right, you haven't, and SHIELD is no better and no different than HYDRA. Maybe that's because they were in bed together for so long, or maybe it isn't. SHIELD -- SHIELD lost sight of what it was built for a long time ago, and I know that. I didn't just take down the Helicarriers to stop Project Insight, I wanted it all to burn because it all needed to. It wasn't a system that was working, it wasn't protecting people, it was keeping secrets, it was deciding who had the right to know what, who had the right to live and who didn't -- that isn't freedom. That isn't protecting and defending those that need it. That's nothing but fighting a war instead of finding a solution. It was all wrong, and it all had to go." Steve glanced past Ward's shoulder for a moment, not really looking for Bucky, just making sure that he was still in the same place before he focused his attention back on Ward.
"Maybe if it was a better system, Garrett wouldn't have had to resort to what he did. Maybe the plans that were laid out for you would have been different, but we can't operate on maybes. What we can operate on is this." Steve lifted his hand and pointed it at Ward's chest. "That's what makes the difference. And I'm going to tell you something because it's important. That feeling you got? That feeling that that time -- with Coulson, his team -- that it was different? That's a feeling you should trust. It's a feeling that saved my life. Bucky Barnes fought decades of hard programming because he felt different, he didn't kill me and he didn't leave me to die because regardless of what he knew, what he thought and what he couldn't remember, he felt something and he acted on it."
He lowered his hand and wrapped it around his glass, pausing long enough to take another drink. "It's different, I know it's different, because I had loyalty on my side when it came to what Bucky felt, and I'm not about to compare you to him. But what you feel -- "
Steve shook his head, he got a read off of Ward, off of how difficult it was for him to admit that he'd felt something for Coulson's team, and he was running with it. "That tells me that you're a good person, Ward, or at least you're capable of being one if you choose to be. Your heart isn't a weakness, you're not a HYDRA agent, you're not a SHIELD agent -- they're both gone now and you have nothing to look to but what's inside of you, what you want and what it means to you. Maybe it's time you put your trust in it."