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Chapter Text

Skye

My monologue was going pretty well, at least till I got a bag pulled over my head by the two suits. Granted, I had hoped they’d grab me, but mid-monologue, really? That’s just rude. Based on the movement I could feel myself shuffled into probably an SUV of some kind considering I had to step up into it. Then they drove around for a while, before eventually they stopped, and I was pulled out of the SUV, and started walking on some smooth ground. 

I could smell fuel, smoke, asphalt, and whatever aggressively masculine aftershave one of the two government robots I’d been grabbed by was wearing. My hands were cuffed and the bag was completely opaque, so those were out of the question for senses. And I wasn't exactly tasting much at the moment, gross fuel smell aside. My hearing confirmed what I figured. The beeping of trucks, lots of low engine noises, and some jet engines, as well as various people yelling about things. I was probably at some sort of airfield, and… yep, that felt kinda like tarmac under my shoes. I’m shoved forward by brut-bot for stopping too long. The other government goon scolds him for it though, so that's something at least.

Definitely an airport, and in fact, an airplane, I can feel myself walking up some sort of metal ramp, which is clanging from my boots as I do. Wow, the suit-droids really aren't very good at their secret job if they think they’ve obscured where I am. I was expecting this to be harder. 

And they’re spinning me around, annnd, Agent Aftershave has pulled the bag off my head. 

Finally. Alright, time to play up the naive truth-to-power hacker angle Skye!

“You guys are making a big mistake.” I say

“You don’t look that big”

Idiot. He should really know as a spy not to judge just on appearances.

“Sorry for the lack of finesse. Agent Ward here has had a little history with your group, the Rising Tide.” says the less grunty one of them

Stick with just a hacker, Lie Badly Skye

“I don’t know what yo-”

“Ok there are two ways we can do this” says apparently Agent Ward 

How original

“Oh, is one of them the Easy way?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“What’s your name?”

“Skye.”

“What’s your Real name?”

That is my "real" name dipstick.

“It can wait. It’s another name we need. A certain hero.” says the one playing Good cop, I mean, Good Agent

“What makes you think I know that?”

“Well, you made a little mistake.”

Can you say that any more smugly?

“The phone you filmed the hooded hero with had the same cryptographic signature as a few of the Rising Tide posts.”

I can’t believe they fell for that. Well, may as well throw them a curveball, I think they’ll need it.

“Wooooow, yeah. Was that a mistake or am I now sitting in the center of your secret headquarters. What is this, a plane? I got inside. And by now you’ve discovered you can’t beat the encryption on my equipment so, You got Nothing.” 

“We have a fairly strong coincidence. You being on the scene, right before it went up in flames? Wanna tell me what my team is gonna find there?”

Oh, they think I blew it up. Not good. Yelena is going to kick my ass when she gets back, and then so many “I told you so”s. I'll have to buy a lot of mac & cheese to make it up to her. 

“How did you know the hooded man was in the building?”

“Did you blow it up to draw him out?”

It’s like they’re following the “good cop, bad cop handbook”. 

“Did you?” 

“That’s not our style.”

“I was just kidnapped by your “style”. S.H.I.E.L.D. covered up New Mexico, Project Pegasus, of course you’d be covering up Centipede.”

Good agent & Agent Ward share a Look, followed by Agent Ward Poorly hiding himself mouthing “Centipede” to the other Agent. 

Wow. Really?? No Wonder they thought I did it. They are shockingly bad at the whole information gathering spy thing.

“Holy no Way.” I laugh “You don’t know what that is. BILLIONS of dollars of equipment at your disposal and I beat you with a laptop that I won in a Bet?!”

“You need to think about your friend. We’re not the only ones interested in people with powers. We’d like to contain him, yeah. The next guy will want to exploit him. And the guy after that will wanna dissect him.”

Ward leans on the table gets in face to face, before starting with gritted teeth

Wow this guy is really trying to be intimidating.

“What is Centipede?”

They really don't know. I don't know whether to keep laughing or abandon this. I came for information, but if I can beat them with my old-as-sin laptop, maybe I shouldn't bother. I guess I can fill them in, at least they won't think I did it (I hope) and maybe some good can get done. 

“Look, you can keep interrogating me about something you clearly need all the help you can get with, or you can hand Mr. Grumpy pants over there the keys to my handcuffs and let me stand up and explain.”

I could get out myself, but this way they wont know that, and they won't attack me for it.

“Why would we let you out of your handcuffs? You’re a member of a dangerous hacker group that poses a threat to-”

“Agent Ward. Why don’t you just explain and then we can let you out of the handcuffs?”

“Because I don’t like being handcuffed? Prove that you're not some faceless government goons.”

Unexpectedly, mr. Nice agent actually reaches over and undoes my cuffs, all the while with goon #2 protesting, but he gets interrupted.

“Agent Ward, do you think that you are unable to handle her if she attempts anything?” 

He gives Ward a look.

“No sir.” 

Interesting, so Mr. Nice guy is a higher up. Makes sense. Little do they know.

“Then undo the handcuffs.”

“That’s a relief, you know those things are really uncomfortable. You should work on that, maybe-”

“Get to the point.”

“Alright, I am, Geez.”

I stand up and start pacing

“Centipede. It was chatter on the web and then… Gone. I traced the access point mac address to that building.”

“What were you after?”

“The truth. What are you after?”

“World peace.”

Huh. Didn’t expect that response. Agent cutout surprised me, theres a first.

“You pseudo-anarchist hacker-types love to stir things up. But you're never around for the fallout. People keep secrets for a reason, Skye.”

Well played, but still a bit of an ass.

“Well, just because your boss over there is reasonable doesn’t mean that you’re not an evil, faceless, government toolbag. Nice doesn’t always equal good. Plenty of people can smile while they slit your throat, or order a bunch of innocent deaths.”

“Just give us your guy's name.”

“He's not my guy.” 

“You understand he’s in danger.”

“Yeah, I do. Why do you think I'm not telling two random suits who he is?”

“You wanna be alone with him. Sir, she’s a groupie. All this hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D., tracking powers, she might as well be one of those sweaty cosplay girls crowding around Stark tower.”

“I did that once, and only because I lost a bet!”

“Ward.”

The agents exit the interrogation room.

Gotta think. Probably have a camera, maybe a mic, on me, so I can't check what this weird hex stuff on the walls is. Nothing in here to grab, guess I just gotta wait them out.

The door opens and they both walk back in, Agent-not-Ward is holding a plastic impact case.

Wonder what that is. They getting to the torture already or maybe offers of money?

He sets it down, and pulls out a green vial.

“This, is QNB-T16. It's the top-shelf martini of sodium-pentathol derivatives. It's a brand new and extremely potent truth drug. Don’t worry, the effects only last about an hour.”

I’ve never heard of that, and it wasn't in any of the S.H.I.E.L.D. files I hacked. But I suppose it could be real if it’s brand new? I should probably play along either way.

“And you’ll have a nice little nap. And we’ll have all the answers to ourEY! What the hell?”

So this is the route they’re going with. Definitely fake. Still could get some useful info unintentionally.

“I’m sorry. Did that hurt?”

“No. You’ve lost your mind. Should never do that to a member of your team and yes, it did hurt a little bit. But I always try and mask my pain in front of beautiful women because I think it makes me seem more masculine- my God this stuff works fast.”

Well, that's… an Interesting tac to take. 

“Don’t trust us? Ask him whatever you’d like.”

“Wait a minute. You can’t just- This is definitely not protocol!”

This should be fun. He started with some half truths- that needle hurt but he’s used to worse, and I'm pretty sure the "acts differently around women he’s attracted to" thing is accurate. Seems like that includes me. Make him uncomfortable and get some info out of him while he's trying to lie to get me to trust him. Eat it Natalia! 

I take my jacket off and adjust my shirt to show more cleavage, well as adopt a “Seductive” tone

“You seem nervous, Agent Ward.”

Oh, the way he looked at me just now? Definitely finds me attractive and didn't expect me to lean into that. This should be fun.

“I’m calling to mind my training.”

Sure you are buddy. There may not be a truth serum, but you are gonna tell me everything.

“There's no way I’m gonna reveal classified secrets to a girl who's hellbent on taking us down.”

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

“Yes, a few.”

I think he’s hedging. Definitely killed, probably more than a few. 

“-high risk, targets. But they were… terrible people. Who were trying to murder nice people. And I didn't feel good afterwards.”

Wow. He said that so slowly he practically had to think for each separate word, almost definitely lying. Let’s throw him a turn.

“Does your Grandmother know about these things?”

“Gramsy?”

Wow. That was terrible and hilarious. I gotta try really hard not to laugh. 

“So, Agent Ward, How long have you been at S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“8 years.”

Huh. Solid answer, quick, probably the truth.

“How’d you join?”

“I was recruited out of juvie. My SO said he would like to talk to me about joining once I got out as long as I behaved, and I did. Few years later, he met me at the exit and drove me straight to S.H.I.E.L.D. academy to enroll.”

Seems true, there's no hesitation, no pupil dilation, none of the signs Yelena taught me.

“Do you trust S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“Yes. They got me out of a bad situation, gave me motivation, purpose. I don’t know where I’d be without it. It’s a good organization, protects people.”

“So, why should I trust S.H.I.E.L.D.? Cause from where I’m standing you kidnapped me from my van.” 

“You are a member of a terrorist hacker group, and possibly responsible for an explosion in town! You shouldn't need to trust S.H.I.E.L.D. and I have no idea why Coulson is doing this when we should be just interrogating you about your involvement!”

Nice try at twisting out of the question, but let some of his real feelings, and even better, possibly his partner/boss's government name, slip.

“So you trust S.H.I.E.L.D., but not… Coulson. I take it that's your boss out theres name?”

Ha. Agent Ward looks Genuinely pissed. 

“Of course I trust Agent Coulson. He’s on my team, and I’m on his. We’re all S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Sticking with keeping it vague if Coulson is his partner or boss. Interesting.

“You still trust him after he dosed you with an experimental truth serum and locked you in an interrogation room with a suspected hacker?”

He’s hesitating. Trying to parse how to answer through the lies and truth. 

“Yes, I may disagree with his decisions sometimes, but I trust him.”

He definitely let it slip without meaning to and is leaning in to try and recover. I'll keep that in my back pocket for later.

“So, why does S.H.I.E.L.D. not know about Centipede?”

Ah, he perked up. Probably excited to secretly pry info from me.

“S.H.I.E.L.D. is constantly monitoring issues worldwide, there's so much data to sort through things slip through the cracks.”

“Huh, that one felt true even though I know it’s a lie, at least partially. Maybe he’s a better liar than I thought, just needed a sec to get into it?”

The conversation/interrogation continues for a little while before Ward pretends to fall unconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Did Agent Ward give you anything?” asks Agent Coulson 

Yes, thanks. And thanks for letting me wander a bit on this nice plane, really get a lay of it. Can't Believe you did that.

“He told me he’s been to Paris but he’s never really Seen it and that he wishes you had stayed in Tahiti.”

That last bit even seemed true.

“It’s a Magical Place.” 

“Ward doesn’t like your style, kinda think I Do.” 

I really do. This is a wild, and fun, tactic. Probably would have worked even better on someone not trained by a former Widow.

“What about his?”

A news report is cast to a screen in front of us both with a gesture.

“-remains in critical condition. Employees could not identify the attacker, But security footage confirms that This Man assaulted the factory foreman before damaging Thousands of dollars worth of company property with his bare hands.”

Oh Mike, that doesn't seem like the person I met. Not at all.

“This is Wrong. This is Not the guy I met, he was…

He just needs a break.”

“Then give him one. What have you got?”

Alright. Fair play, I’m with you on This.

I take out Mike’s ID and slide it over to Agent Coulson.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The team seems to work together well, and is an interesting group. I guess I could work with them. Lena’s still got a while on her thing, so I can stick with them for a bit. They seem pretty smart. Mostly. Glad I got that audio file. Just gotta make sure they don’t look too carefully in my van while we're here. 

I remove and hide a few signs of Yelena in here, including a few pictures, and a couple other things. I slip the info card into my shirt, just in case they try and pat me down.

“That should do it! Let’s head back.”

“Alright-”

As Agent May slides the van back open, Mike Peterson jumps down, landing in front of her. Agent May pulls out a gun, and Mike grabs her hand as they grapple for it, before he throws her bodily across the alley into some trash bags, knocking her unconscious.

Shit shit shit. Do I try and fight him? I could maybe talk to him first?

“Mike. What are you doing?”

“Saving you. From the scary men in dark suits? And you’re gonna help save us.”

Oops. Kinda my fault there. And what does he mean

“Us?”

Mike pulls a kid into view.

Oh.

“Don’t cry. Stay strong for me Ace. What are we?”

I might've gotten in over my head

“We’re a team.”

“That's right. Now drive.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He’s having me try and delete him out of all the systems I can. I am, Mostly, and slower than usual. I do have to do something else at the same time after all. 

“How long is the gonna take?”

“This is top speed, trust me. It’s not like I’m deleting a Facebook page, I’m bypassing the license bureau’s AES-protected data stream, sooo, chill.”

“How do I know you can really do this?”

“I’ve done it before.”

A lot. Practiced a bunch also. Which is why I can do it And my other task secretly at the same time, namely, sending S.H.I.E.L.D. our location.

“...We’ll take the nice lady with us. We, we can’t go to the airport so we’ll take a train, and there she’ll, she’ll help us start over. Make a new life, a better life. Like I always said.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alright, now I’ve just gotta stall till they get here. Hopefully won't be too long.

“Mr. Peterson, we’re here to help. We're not a threat, but you're in danger and we need to take you in.” Coulson's voice comes from outside the van

There they are, just in time.

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

Uh oh.

Mike punches the door off of my van, and grabs both me and Ace, running into the train station.

Ok, ok, think fast. Oh look, douche canoe brigade at 11 O’clock.

I lean over slightly as they are passing and kick one of the men in the crotch.

“You're right, he is a little Bitch.”

They all rush at Mike to attack, crowding him, and letting me grab Ace and escape. however Mike tosses one, hits another onto his ass, and catches a thirds punch, twisting the arm till it fractures and tossing him to the ground, sliding him across the floor.

“Ace! Ace!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Come ON, why are these doors shut?

A man dressed like a police officer begins to approach me

Is that a shotgun on his back?! That's not right, and why is he Here rather than helping out any of the NUMEROUS places that need it? 

“Oh my god officer! There's a scarily strong man! and he's grabbing and throwing people and-”

The “officer” has been walking closer to me and pulls the shotgun off his back.

Damn, thought that might work. He's definitely not a cop.

I rush forward just as he points it at me, and grab the barrel pushing it up towards the ceiling and simultaneously punching past it into the “officer”’s jaw, then a kick to the knee, followed by twisting around his body into spinning elbow in the back of his neck, and as he face-plants into the ground, a fast and quick punch to the back of his head knocking him out.

“Could've done that the easy way, then you wouldn’t have lost your gun and gained a headache. And maybe be dead. Annnd I'm talking to an unconscious or dead guy.”

I take his shotgun, and check to make sure I have any other weapons I can grab from him. I throw the shotgun shells away from us, and slide the shotgun off in a different direction.

Wonder what he was here for. Maybe some goon from Centipede to silence Mike and stop him from drawing so much attention to them?

As I'm running from the “police”, Mike jumps clear across the station to me and grabs me, dragging me through the doorway I was just at, not even noticing the unconscious “cop”. He brings me to a central upper area. As we enter the doors, I twist out of his grip.

“You’ve gotta stop, these people can help you!”

“The men in suits? They're your buddies now? Where'd they take my son?!”

We’re overlooking the central area on a balcony. Agent May rushes up behind Mike and kicks him in the back of the knee, and delivers a chop to the neck that would probably knock most people out. However Mike is still up, and grabs her. I'm still laying on the floor debating whether or not to interfere when he tries to throw Agent May, only for her to twist out of his grip and deliver a vicious kick to the chest, sending him tumbling over the railing. As he does, she rushes to it, leaning over, a horrified look on her face and yelling

“NO!” 

Mike lands on top of a small kiosk, and climbs out of it, and Agent May breathes a sigh of relief. Walking slowly up to Mike is Coulson with a single pistol, which he lays down at his feet.

“Think that Means anything? I know you got men Everywhere waiting to put me down. I know how this plays out.”

“I don’t. I know you’ve got poison in your system. I know it’s burning you up. Mike, the last guy who wore that, exploded.”

“I’m not like that other guy. I’m… It matters who I am. Inside. If I’m a good person, if I’m strong.”

“I know you're strong. Your boy knows it. He needs you to let us help.”

“You TOOK him! You took my wife. My job. My house. You think This is killin’ me?”

I rushe over along with May.

“All over, there’s people bein’ pushed down, bein’ robbed. One of them tries to stand up, you gotta make an example outta him.”

As he says this, he rips a concrete plinth out of the ground and begins to gesture with it.

“You bring this building down on us, will that help that?”

“That's a LIE, all you do, is LIE!”

He says, slamming the pillar into the remains of the kiosk, starting to glow with the orange explosive energy

“You said if we worked hard, if we did Right, we could have a place. You said it was enough to be a Man. But there's better than that. There's gods,... And the rest of us. What are we? They're giants, we’re what they Step on.”

“I know. I’ve seen giants, up close. And that privilege cost me, nearly everything. But the good ones? The Real Deal, they're not heroes because of what they have that we don’t, it’s what they do with it. You’re right Mike, it matters who you are.”

“I could, y’know? Be a hero.”

“I’m counting on it.”

A shot rings out quiet and yet deafening in its impact as it rocks Mike’s head back and he collapses to the ground. The orange glow fades from his skin as the Simmons rushes to him. She confirms… he's alive, just unconscious.

Oh thank fuck, I thought they killed him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mike is checked into the medical facility at S.H.I.E.L.D.. Then, Agent Coulson takes me to get Ace situated with his aunt. At the moment, I'm walking over to Coulson from dropping off Ace

“Told him his father is coming home.”

“He will. We have some experience with this.”

“He almost blew, We almost died.”

“We have some experience with that too.”

So do I.

“Don’t have it All mapped out though.”

“True. We didn’t cut off the head of the Centipede. Whoever sponsored that little experiment is still out there. Among other things.”

“It’s a brave new world. And a really old car.” 

“Lola can keep up, what about you? Have you, thought about the offer?”

I was planning on it, glad you beat me to asking, that'll make this a lot less suspicious.

“Hitchin’ a ride on the crazy plane? Not exactly a team player.”

That should be convincing enough.

“We’re not exactly a team. But we're in a position to do some good. You’d be a great help. And you’d be front row center at the strangest show on earth, which is, after all, what you wanted.”

Well played Agent Coulson. 

“I was able to hack S.H.I.E.L.D.. From my van.”

And my trainer is a formerly brainwashed Russian assassin

“You're gonna show me something New?”

Coulson gets an alert.

“Go.”

“Sir, we’ve got an 084.”

“Is that Confirmed?”

“They want us to go in and confirm it.”

“What’s an 084?” 

“You’ve got exactly 10 minutes to decide if you Really wanna know.”

“There's no way we can make it to the airfield in-”

Coulson presses a button and some switches, and the car lifts off the ground and begins to hover.

Oh.

“...10 minutes.”

I’ll admit, this is pretty cool.

“The tide is rising.”

Chapter Text

Skye:

I finish packing my stuff into my backpack and bags, and exit the van.

Glad I got the extra padded military duffle from Lena, I can hide my knives pretty well in there. As well as some of the other stuff of ours. I don’t want them figuring everything out about me yet. And I can’t tell them about Yelena, for a bunch of reasons. Not while I’m trying to get info on Natalia and the Red Room from them as well as my parents info. It'll be hard to stay undercover living with people, especially when you are only partially lying to them. I’ll have to ask her opinion how I did when this is over. Wait, that guy is gonna drive my van? 

“Hey. No joyrides, ok? It was my house.”

“No worries.”

He places a black pyramid that magnetizes to the hood, and lights up green, starting the car up.

Ok, that's pretty cool

“Where do they think of this stuff?”

There's Fitzsimmons. They look excited.

“Ah! Agent Coulson told us the news, what a wonderful surprise! Isn’t it Fitz?”

“Yeah”

“No it’s wonderful you must be very excited.”

“Yeah its a surprise!”

Well. They’re bubbly. Back to introductions again. Been a while since I had to do this.

“First day of school all over again.”

“Okay, so it’s just, up this way.”

“Yeah”

We make our way upstairs.

“Officially, it’s an airborne mobile command station, but We call it the Bus. We find it best to use shorthand when in the field. But everything has to be just so, y’know? Because of the danger.” says Fitz

“Yeah, I’ve been up here before.”

“Wheels up in 2. Lock it or lose it.” sounds over the comm system from Agent May

“No backing out now. Let’s find a bunk for our guest.” says Simmons 

“and there’s only one left and it’s right next to mine.”

I put my stuff down in the small cubicle bunk, in time to spot Ward passing by. He pauses, and hands me a booklet

“Might want to read that. This isn't like other planes.”

I open it.

Bunch of emergency exits, air filtration and cycling against bio threats? Multiple inflatable rafts? Lots of other things, wow yeah. Very different from the commercial stuff I’ve been in, and Lena’s small one. Real different from the helicopters as well, but thats more obvious I think, despite the vertical takeoff and landing system it apparently has.

“You can say that again.”

Annnnd, he’s gone. Oh, there's Coulson.

“Say what again?”

“Sweet ride.”

“I earned a little good will from Director Fury when I got hit right before the Battle of New York.”

“You took a bullet?” 

Huh, not such a pencil-pusher after all. 

“Ish. An asgardian stabbed me through the heart with his sceptre. The effect was similar. Got a few weeks R&R and this plane. Had it completely refurbished. Studs up. Spared no expense.”

“Yeah, Agent Ward told me they sent you to Tahiti.”

“It's a Magical Place.”

Weird.

“You mentioned that.”

“I’d buckle up.”

“I don't even know where we’re going.”

“Peru. That’s where the 084 was reported. “

“And an 084 is…?”

“An object of unknown origin. Kind of like you. Team goes in, determines if it’s useful or if it poses a threat. Last one turned out to be pretty interesting.”

“And what was the last one?”

“A hammer.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We arrive at the site, theres a lot of people still around, for something dangerous sitting here. I better follow Coulson in.

“We should warn the people who live around here if the 0-8-4 is dangerous. They’re already dealing with anti-mining rebels and the Shining Path guerillas. I could post something.” I say

“Remember the panic when that anti-matter meteor splashed down just off the coast of Miami, nearly devoured the city?” Asked Coulson 

“No.”

“Precisely. Because we kept it quiet and contained.”

“So, what am I doing?”

“Well, if it gets out, I might need you to create some kind of diversion, put the public on the wrong scent.”

I guess I can do that. I still think they need to be warned. I'll figure it out, I can’t afford to get in the team’s bad side over this.

“Alright.”

Agent Coulson walks up to a guy dressed more appropriately for the environment than we are (no Idea how Agent Coulson manages the heat in his black suit)

“Good morning, Professor. I’m Agent Coulson with S.H.I.E.L.D. I understand you’ve made an interesting discovery.”

“I-I’m not sure how to explain it. This temple dates back at least 500 years. It’s filled with pre-Incan artifacts. One of them is impossible and looks like it might be dangerous.”

“Well, that’s why we’re here.”

We enter the ruin, and embedded in the wall is a metal object, glowing blue in two places with four circles sticking out as cylinders. 

“Watch out. Exactly as we found it.”

“Who else knows about this?”

“Just the ministry. I believe they are the ones who contacted you.”

“Sir, I need you and your team to evacuate the site until we determine the risk associated with this object.”

Fitzsimmons have their drones out and starting to scan and investigate. One of them flys over to the professor.

“Leave the man alone.” says Simmons

“Now… for your own safety.” Coulson repeats

I’ve been searching online since spotting the 084, and

“Nothing about this anywhere. It’s amazing. I searched every data stream. What do you got here, guys?”

I reach out to touch it as it’s scanned by one of the drones.

“Whoa, care… uh, careful. I-I… no, wouldn’t do that.”

“The object’s placement in fossiliferous rock formations suggests it’s been here for at least 1,500 years. That pre-dates this temple by a millennium. Ah! Maybe it’s alien.”

“Yeah, but the shape and the craftsmanship… it’s almost German”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can hear, echoing in from outside, snippets, Agent May saying 

“If I need a gun, I’ll take one.”

Sounds of fighting, a lot of folks, and then yelling in a language I can’t pick out from the echoing.

Then, over the radio, Ward calls in

“Sir?”

“Go”

“We have a situation.”

Uh oh, the fightings gotten intense around the country here. I should probably mention it.

“Lots of rebels in this area.”

“Not enough gunfire.”

I mean, I don’t know the teams skills, but two people vs how ever many rebels would likely result in very little gunfire.

“Keep workin’. I’m on my way.”

And Coulson exits the temple.

After more scanning, Fitz says

“Are you seein’ this? It’s alive.”

WHAT? 

“Alive, alive?”

“It has a functioning power source.”

Simmons speaks up

“Sleepy’s reading radionuclides, but they don't match any known isotope.”

“I get temporal matches, but even then, they seem to shift. Is that even possible?”

I think I’ve got a Vague sense of what they mean, but I should probably check to make sure I don’t need to escape from rebels.

“I’m gonna go check on Coulson.”

Ward enters 

“We’ve got company. National Police.”

“What?” Simmons asks

“Why are They here?” continues Fitz

I mean, between the 084, government vehicles arriving, and rebel fighting around the country there are a few options.

“They heard about this object. They’re probably here to protect it. This area has lots of rebel uprisings.”

“Yeah, people are fighting back against the government’s mining policies. It’s pretty kick-ass.”

“Yeah, it’s 'kick-ass', all the violence.”

You know that's not what I meant, Ward. Or at least, you should.

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“No, it’s what you’re typing. In your van, alone… where it’s safe. How much longer?”

You really don’t have a clue do you Ward? At least I know my covers intact still. Wild that they assume just because I can hack I can't do anything else. Guess the nerd stereotypes really do live on.

“What’s the hurry?”

“Are we in danger?”

Definitely.

“Not if everyone does their job.”

He looks at me

“What is yours, exactly?”

Oooh, biting comment Ward, really hurt.

An explosion rocks the area. Followed by gunfire.

“Sounds like they’re engaging with rebels. Let’s go. They're coming for it, let's Move!”

Fitzsimmons are quickly packing their drones and tech up, I palm one of my knives from one of the hidden pockets on me. 

“We need a containment case for the 084.” Says Simmons. 

“There’s no time.”

“It has a fluctuating power core, and frequencies way above 10 exahertz.”

As Fitz has been talking, Ward has walked over to the 084 in the wall.

“Sorry. Science class is over.”

And he just freakin yanks it out of the hole as Fitz is yelling at him

“Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait. You did not just pull that out of the wall. What is the matter with you?! Do you realize we do not know the amount of photon emissions coming out of this… okay. We don’t know what will happen if it gets excited!”

Ward packs it in a duffle and hands it over to Fitz.

“Stay close.”

“Fitz! Come on!”

I wait for Fitzsimmons to fall in line behind Ward and then get into a correct tactical follow position for someone with only close-range weapons.  Ward exits firing and crouches, in the middle of the freaking open platform in front of the doorway.

Idiot might as well paint a target on his forehead crouching in an open area on a very visible raised platform with no cover in a gunfight. Who trained this guy?

He yells at us to get back, but I grab Fitzsimmons and roll them off the steps to the side, and push them into the brush. There is more protesting from them about staying put like Ward said, but they aren't looking my way, so I can act when one of the rebels is waiting there with a gun. I stab in his right upper forearm and pull, leaving a massive gash causing him to drop it, then I follow it up with a left cross to the jaw, and a kick at his leg. Off balance, he can’t defend as I stab him between his ribs, pull the knife out, and then hit the back of his head with the pommel. He’s down, but another approaches from the side, so I shift grips on the knife and throw it, hitting dead center of the neck, and the second guy is down. Meanwhile, Ward pulls some sort of metal stick out of his jacket, and extends it. Everyone on our side gets down, and since Fitzsimmons is still prone in the bushes, I can instantly follow suit. Ward does a forward roll down the stairs and comes up in a kneeling position, slamming the spike into the ground. A metal tube emerges from its top, hovers for a moment, and then a loud bang and blue flash of light emits from it, knocking planks, small trees, and the rebels down and out. Ward gestures into the bushes where we are and everyone rushes forward. I spot a remaining rebel hold up his rifle so I pull another knife and ready to throw, but as I do, the S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV drives between us, stopping the bullets. I don’t think anyone spotted me drawing the dagger, hopefully. Agent May pushes open the door and yells

“Move! Get in now!”

I make sure Fitzsimmons gets in, and then let Ward force me into the back with them, then Ward gets into the shotgun seat next to Agent May, and we peel off, chased by firing rebels.

“Coulson secure in PMP’s truck, take the south right to the airfield.”

“Gotcha.”

Fitz yells “Slow Down!” 

Which,

“You're joking, right?!”

“Ward listen! We got to be careful! There's a binding energy structure that could overheat.”

“I could roll down a window!" Simmons says, which, is somehow worse?

“Do not roll down a window!” I say as another spray of bullets pings off the back of the SUV

“Stay quiet and keep your heads down. Head left. The ravine empties.”

“But, Ward!” Fitz persists 

May, Ward, and I all yell “Quiet!” At the same time.

“How fast can you have the wheels up?” asks Ward

“Fast.” Says May

We make it onto the plane still rushing, May practically jumps out of the car and looks at Ward

“Ramp!”

“On it.”

I try and grab a gun from some of the kit in the ramp area, but Ward pushes me back and says 

“Get off the ramp. You’re in the line of fire.”

After a protracted gun fight which I do not participate in, Coulson, and the national police, make it onto the Bus.

“Cut it pretty close, sir.” Says Ward

“Didn’t want to leave anyone behind.”

“Now, what was the problem Fitz?”

“As I said before, this device has a high-frequency, fluctuating, sub-material compression-”

“Fitz, in English.” says Agent Ward

“The 0-8-4 is fueled by tesseract technology. Hydra. World War II. Captain America. It's full of lethal amounts of gamma radiation.”

“Gamma, you're saying it's nuclear?”

“No. He's saying it's much, much worse.” says Coulson

Holy shit. That's... not good.

Fitzsimmons brings it to their lab, very carefully.

“Not to worry, the device is stable. Not that it, couldn't explode at any minute, especially if hit with machine-gun fire. But things like this happen from time to time when in the field, and at first, it's very unpleasant, and you regret your decision to leave the lab at all.” 

Very reassuring Simmons.

Fitz enters the lab, yelling at Ward

“Are you mental? I did explain in great detail exactly what I meant, using the queen's Bloody English!”

“I use Normal English Fitz, words like "duck" and "run" and "might blow us to pieces."”

“Oh Oh! Well, congratulations, Agent Ward. You managed to string three words together in a sentence!”

The yelling back and forth is getting Exhausting, so I start to exit the lab before the 084 blows up from the tension between Fitz and Ward. They’ve been treating me like a rookie, but I get the sense Ward doesn’t know which ones Fitz and which is Simmons, and those two seem to have seen much less gunfire than I have, which granted, isn’t hard, but I feel like the amount they have seen is probably rather low for members of an elite S.H.I.E.L.D. team. 

As I’m exiting, Coulson walks into the lab, having finished making bedroom eyes at the head of the PMP we met, seemingly about to say something, but I have to ask.

“Is this your first mission together?”

Simmons answers, very defensively

“No! Of course not… It’s our second.”

“I was your first? Thats sweet.” 

I managed to get on an elite S.H.I.E.L.D. team for information and its a bunch of rookies that have never worked together, figures. Cute that they care about it too.

“You’re amused?” Asks Ward, angrily of course

“Yeah, I’ve been on this team just as long as any of you, and have more experience than some. I might as well be team captain.”

Simmons scoffs, and the rest of them are just staring at me.

I look toward Coulson.

“I was joking, but maybe that's not a bad idea because these guys do not like eachother much.”

“This isn't about that. I’m a specialist. I work alone. Today I could’ve eliminated the enemy threat myself if I was working alone-” starts Ward

Now it’s my turn to scoff

“But I have some criminal hacker and two non-combat-ready agents-"

Fitz looks angry, and is approaching Ward. This'll go well.

“Whoa, whoa. Wait. You work alone?”

Uh oh, looks like Simmons is about to join in

 “So typical. Who do you think designs your equipment?”

“Or the polymers for your weaponry.”

“Yeah.”

“People like us do it.” 

“Try going into the field with just your bare bum!”

I walk over to Coulson and half-whisper to him

“See them proving the point I just made?”

“You're not wrong. We still need to iron out the kinks. But, Ward, you can speak six languages. Simmons, you have two PhDs in fields I can't pronounce, and, Fitz, you are a rocket scientist. So work it out.”

He exits, and I follow him out. I head upstairs to my bunk, and hack the new tablet they gave me so I can securely send a message to Lena, updating her on what’s been going on, and schedule a call. Hopefully she wont be in middle of a fire-fight this time so we can video chat. Then again, I was the one just in middle of a fire-fight, so I suppose our lack of them needs to sync up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple hours later, I exit, figuring I'll head over to the bar I heard Coulson mention and pick up a drink. Ward is off in the corner reading, shockingly, and a couple of the peruvian MPs are playing cards with drinks next to them. Wait. Full drinks. Frequent glances around at the surroundings. At least 1 gun still holstered. Shit. I take a quick look and grab the heaviest bottle off the bar, and palm my shoulder knife by rubbing my shoulder under my jacket like it hurts. Then, I walk over to Ward, bottle in hand, and sit down. He gives me a look, but I lean in, and whisper

“Ward, those 2 MPs haven’t had a single sip of their full scotches while playing cards.”

“Shit.”

As he says that, I stand up, he tries to grab my hand, but I slip out of his grip and walk, slowly, towards them, making sure my posture is relaxed, I throw in a bit of a wobble, like I’ve already been drinking, and hold up the bottle as I get in range.

“Fresh refill?” I say, before tossing it at one of their heads and charging in before the other has a chance to stand up, I grab the guys right arm as he reaches down, presumably for a weapon, and twist it. The crack his arm makes is probably even audible to Ward, while his yell definitely is. Ward has gotten up and rushed to help. But I don’t pause, I make sure to stab twice in the left pec and then one deep cut across the throat, blood spraying across the table. The other mp I hit with the bottle is, by now, standing up just in time for Ward to get into melee with him. However, more enter. I guess I’ve gotta take care of them too- wait, Ward got his guy down, and glances at me funny. I’ll have to explain this later, Crap. But we both charge forward. He goes for a standard football tackle across the couch of one, while I run at the second, jumping at the last second, hooking my leg around his throat and twisting, pulling him to the ground before using my left hand to slam his head into the ground, he’s out as well. Ward is still fighting his guy, so I rush forwards to take on the others in the room. Theres two standing parallel, my lucky day. Continuing my forward run, I jump, grabbing one of the plane supports with the knifeless hand, and swinging out, split kicking each of them in the head. As I keep moving, I land into a roll, throwing my knife at one and rushing the other, with a fist, elbow, knee sequence that has him unconscious on the ground in a moment, and pull my knife out of the first. Ward finally knocks his guy unconscious and looks around just as Coulson rushes down the stairs and stares at the scene before him, before looking at the screens, with Fitzsimmons held hostage in the lab. The PMP leader comes down the stairs in a tank top holding her abdomen, and Coulson walks over to her angry.

“We were allies. We had history. When did you decide to throw that away?”

 “As soon as I saw your team.”

Coulson insists we surrender to save Fitzsimmons, so, after a moment, I put down my bloody knife and Ward and I hold our hands up.

We’re then escorted at gun point down the the cargo hold ramp and sat down with our hands behind our backs. I could’ve maybe gotten out of it myself, if there weren't other hostages at gun point, but this is too much. Fitzsimmons are brought down similarly not long after. Then, we're all tied, hands behind our backs, to the cargo doors. I manage to palm the last of my knives and hide it up my sleeve while they're tying me down. As soon as these dicks are gone I should be able to cut myself out of the rope. 

After a little bit the guards had left, I’ve slipped my knife back into my hand and have been quietly cutting at the rope.

Fitz speaks up

“This is my fault. Should have learned kung fu."

Simmons however, is apologetic “Oh, yeah, but I shouldn't have pushed you into the field in the first place. You weren't ready.”

Ward meanwhile, is blaming himself 

“It was my job to make a proper threat assessment.”

Ok, enough of this

“How do we get out of here?”

Agent May groans and sits up, apparently woken up

“Can’t go through the doors. They're bolted. Tied to the pressurization lines. You two geniuses have nothing?”

Alright, I guess I’m doing this.

“I can get out and take out the guy watching us, just need the rest of you to figure out what we need to do after that.”

Fitz and Simmons both seem appalled and start up with 

“You don’t have to prove how capable and cool you are in the field to be part of the team, just look at Jemma & I!”

“You can’t, Skye, you're a hacker, you’d have to fight a trained military policeman with a gun!”

May looks skeptical, looks down at my, admittedly pretty toned arms, the spatters of blood on my hand that Fitzsimmons clearly still havent noticed, the other hand holding the knife sawing away at the rope, then back up at my face. She raises an eyebrow and then looks past me to Ward, who is just looking… intrigued, for lack of a better word, and then she says. 

“I can get out, you don’t have to do this.”

But I’ve already finished cutting through my tie. I stand up, and creep forward, hearing quiet protests from behind me, and up the stairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. Jemma Simmons:

I can't believe Agent Ward is just letting Skye go up there!

“Ward, you're the specialist, why don't you go help her! She’s just a hacker, and there are military police with guns!" I stage whisper

Ward turns and looks at me, then looks to Agent May, our pilot 

“I have a reason, but I'm surprised you let her go Agent May."

She keeps looking at him stoically

I wonder what he meant by that

before turning back to me

"We were upstairs when they tried to take over the plane. She noticed they hadn’t been drinking from their glasses, grabbed a heavy bottle, and pulled a knife from I don’t know where. She knocked one of them over by breaking the bottle over his head and then I’m pretty sure she broke the other one’s arm before stabbing him to death. I took out the one she hit over the head, and then four more guys showed up. I was busy fighting one of them, but I could see her moving out of the corner of my eye and by the time I knocked mine unconscious, the other 3 were down and she was still holding the bloody knife. I think she can handle herself.”

I have no idea how to process that. Skye beat up and killed some Peruvian military men? I know we haven't know her that long, but she seems so nice? And kind of nerdy, in a different way than Fitz & I, but still! I think she's around our age, maybe even younger, and she killed them? I mean, I know specialists are meant to protect us, but that seems... rather brutal, especially for a hacker.

I look over at Fitz, and he looks even more shocked and confused than I probably do.

Meanwhile, Agent May just continues to look stoically, but then again she sort of always looks that way? But I would assume this information would warrant some sort of reaction! 

As we're sitting there, and I'm contemplating this, I suddenly hear something up at the railing, and look up just in time to see Skye, legs wrapped around one of the military police's neck, hands behind her grabbing onto the railing. And she pulls herself, and the military man into a backflip over the railing! He smacks and cracks down on the ground, I can hear what are probably, at the least, his femur, ilium, ulna, and perhaps some ribs, breaking as he lands (unconscious or dead, I can't tell from this distance, and from everything that Agent Ward has said, I'm no longer sure if Skye has a preference, which is a little alarming), based on the way he twisted when he fell, well, was pulled over. Skye, meanwhile, has gone into a roll of some sort after she let go of the man, and comes up standing looking fine. She doesn't even seem to have taken a punch, let alone seem injured from the fall!

After she stands up, she looks over to us and says

“Sorry it took so long, there was another guy up there.”

Is she serious?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skye, a couple minutes earlier upstairs:

I'm gonna have to figure out how to explain this. Alright, just gotta sneak up on- crap, there's a second one. Ok, I’ve still got a knife, quick and quiet.

I sneak up behind MP #1, cut his throat, and stab him in the chest. Unfortunately, it gets caught in his skin, and as I ease him to the ground, I’m having trouble getting it out. I leave it there, and take a run at the last guy on the balcony. At the last second, I jump, scissoring my legs around his throat, spinning on his shoulders, grab the railing and backflip over it, pulling him with me by his neck. He lands, not moving, and I tuck and roll before standing up looking at the rest of the team, sans Coulson.

“Sorry it took so long, there was another guy up there.”

They just sort of stare at me, well, 3 of them do, May meanwhile is giving me the 3rd degree with just her eyes. I untie the rest of them while they apparently need a second to process. When they're all untied, we discuss options. We need to get into the lab, but the doors are sealed, so we can't just kick or pick our way in. Luckily, there's another way available to us in the cargo area.

“Okay, we're sure, right? Everyone's sure?”

“We're all on board.”

“Yeah, let's do this fast.”

“No turning back. No freezing up. Because if we do, then... All of us die.”

Reassuring as always, Ward

 “We know.”

“Yeah”

“All right.” 

The SUV revs, and May is standing, door open, at the front seat.

“You guys talk a lot.”

And she drives straight into the lab doors, Where Fitz rushes in and grabs the Dwarf Drones. He takes one out, as well as the controller, and sends it up into the vents. The rest of us tie ourselves together with climbing rope and ratchets. 

Fitz is still working the controller when he says

“Simmons, forget what I said before. This, is the moment that we’ll regret.”

And activates the 084, blowing a hole in the plane, shaking it and depressurizing the cabin, and consequently unlocking the doors.

“It worked! The drop in cabin pressure released the doors!”

“I’ll take care of the soldiers, you get to the 084. Let's hope Coulson can handle himself.”

In for penny…

“We’ll take care of the soldiers. You shouldn't need me for help with the 084, May is some kind of badass and can probably deal with whoever’s in the cockpit, but you had trouble with two soldiers, agent.”

Ward grinds his teeth for a moment, before letting out

“Fine, but follow my lead. No stabbing anyone without me asking you to.”

“All my knives are scattered throughout the plane, and that temple, anyway.”

Agent May has a “We’ll talk about this later” look, as do Fitzsimmons, though theirs is a different kind.

We manage to get through the doors, and instantly one of the MPs is firing his handgun at us. Ward shoves us back, but I duck and crawl behind the bar, and May, Ward and Fitzsimmons follow. The first MP rushes at us and Ward grabs him over the counter and slams him down to knock him out. Meanwhile, I vault over the chair and grab the next guy coming at us and slam him face-first into the wall, and follow it with an elbow to his temple. The third guy rushing at us gets shot, Ward having picked up the first MPs gun. However it clicks trying to fire at a fourth, so I rush him, a spinning kick to the head followed by a stomach punch, and then a knee in the jaw and he’s out for the count. There's one more guy around the corner. I grab his arm and roll him over my shoulder and into the floor. Then I punch his chest (probably break a rib or 2, there's a loud crack) and head a couple times, and then reel back a kick to the head to knock him fully out. Ward meanwhile has tied his last guy to a chair using the seatbelt and is just punching him unconscious when I turn to look. One more of the MPs has just turned the corner, and I use his running momentum to grab his hand, twist the gun out of it, and as I do so put my hand on his back to continue his momentum forward, slamming him into the wall. He jumps up and pulls another pistol from it's holster, and I shoot him between the eyes using the first gun I twisted out of his grip, dropping him.

Ward looks at me frowning

"What? You shot one, and you told me no stabbing. He had another gun, was I supposed to let him shoot one of us?"

He just looks away, and goes to make sure Fitzsimmons are ok, and that May has gone ahead to the cockpit

The wind and turbulence from the giant-ass hole in the plane is making everything more dangerous, pointlessly now that they're all captured or dead, and as I’m thinking how to solve this, the pamphlet Ward gave me earlier flies into my face. The inflatable rafts! That should fill the gap nicely! I rush over and rip open the panel and grab the raft, pulling its ripcord and letting it expand and be sucked into the hole. The wind in the plane settles, and it sounds like Fitz has the 084. The plane levels out, meaning May probably has the controls. 

“I read the safety pamphlet.”

Ward, of all people, chuckles at that

“You may be the first.”

Coulson, meanwhile, when he walks in, looks extremely unhappy.

“No other way in, huh? Was just startin’ to warm up to this place.”

Fitz speaks up 

“The 084 is cooling and stable. We should call HQ and get it to the Slingshot as soon as possible.”

“It’s not an 084.” Coulson says

“What?!” Half the team yells

“We know where it’s from now. It was commissioned from former Hydra operatives in Peru by the Peruvian government.”

Fitz smirks at Simmons

“As I said, German engineering.”

Coulson walks over to the PMP leader (I still don’t know her name) and says, smugly

“Told ya they were good.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Agent Phil Coulson:

The team had done well. Despite the twists, and turns, and Camilla turning out to be… not the best person, and probably my worst Ex, they pulled together. But there was a bit of a mystery leftover. One I’m not comfortable with, shaped like a few bloody knife-stuck bodies laying about the plane and a supposedly young inexperienced hacker. I need May’s opinion. She’ll give it to me straight, and correct, usually. And there she is. May walks in, leans against the door frame and gives me the usual inscrutable look, but quirking her eyebrow means this one is a question.

“I wanted your input on today’s events. Because something isn’t adding up, and I wasn’t there when most of the math was done.” I say

“Skye’s lying about something, or things. She’s been trained, well. Only person I’ve seen fight like her, in both style and skill, is Romanoff. She took out 4 military combatants in under a minute, and then later, while the plane was under turbulence, wind, and losing oxygen, she pulled off a similar feat, while some of those combatants were armed. Not to mention the abundance of knives on her person that none of us spotted, which she used lethally without hesitation, including on what might have just been an allied soldier that didn’t feel like drinking. Also, there's the maneuver she pulled in the cargo bay. If I didn't know better I’d say we have a Widow on our plane.”

“DO we know better? She has no records, no ID, we know nothing about her. And we both know Romanoff could lie her way into pretending to be “just a hacker”, and actually has before.”

“I don’t know. But we need to find out, and Romanoff is off the grid on mission, not to mention thinks you're dead, or else I’d say we should ask her.”

“You were her SO, however briefly, you could try and contact her, if she wasn’t no contact at the moment.”

“Well, if she gets back and this is still unresolved I will. But in the meantime, we need to find out, somewhere secure.”

“We have to head to the Slingshot facility anyway.”

“Alright. Make sure we have enough guards. If we’ve uncovered a Widow infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D., we’ll need as many of the best as you can get.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skye:

Coulson and May pull me away from the rocket launch, and I leave Fitzsimmons to continue discussing “Coronal Mass Ejections”. They lead me deep into the base. It takes 20 minutes to get to what turned out to be an elevator, and then another 20 to arrive at the floor we were getting off at. This is not good, I’m getting real “Tell me about the Rabbits or else George” vibes, with an appetizer of interrogation and solitary confinement. They sit me in what's clearly an interrogation room, and a seemingly scarily secure one at that. Coulson gestures to the chair on one side, sits on the opposite. May remains standing. 

“Sooo, am I suddenly under arrest? I didn’t think the plane damage was that bad.”

“Cut the Crap.” 

Coulson sounds pissed.

“Who are you, really? Because you don’t fight like a hacker working for a freedom of information group. None of the Rising Tide have remotely the combat skills you’ve displayed, from the members we've identified. So who are you?”

I’m gonna try and deflect, but I don’t see it working.

“I’m not sure what you mean, I joined the Rising Tide to-”

“Quiet.”

Uh oh, May’s talking. That's a bad sign.

“Do you know Natasha Romanoff?”

“I mean, yeah, she’s an Avenger! She saved New Yor-”

“No. Do. You. Know. Her?”

“As far as I know we’ve never spoken or even been in the same room in my life! Though how cool wou-”

“Answer the question, DIRECTLY. Do you know Natasha Romanoff?”

I turn down the over-excited bubbliness I tend to exaggerate around the team. Not that I'm not a Little bubbly, but I lean in heavily to cover sometimes, and that's clearly not the right tactic here.

“No. I don’t.”

“Do you know what the Red Room is?”

“May. Tone it down a little, she saved our lives, more than once." Says Coulson

"And that could've been a ploy to gain our trust." She responds

"Well, we don't know yet, do we? Skye, if that really is your name-” starts Coulson

Ah. An opening. I guess it's my secret or Yelena’s.

“It’s not. I mean, it is, but it's not my first. I picked it when I was 8.”

Coulson looks at May, wary and worried. She just looks resigned and angry.

“I hated the name the orphanage gave me so I chose a different one. I loved the blue of the sky in the day, and the night sky with all it’s stars. It made, still makes, me feel like anything is possible, like there are no limits to what can be done. Hack anything, go anywhere, live how I want. Maybe even finding my parents. Even if it’s just to yell at them. I joined S.H.I.E.L.D, and hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D., actually I also learned to hack, to find my parents. I spent YEARS searching. And it all led back to one thing.”

I reach into my shirt, and I can see May tense, so I very slowly, pull out the data chip I have on me.

“This is everything I have.”

“On S.H.I.E.L.D?”

“On me. Who I am, who my parents were. My lifelong search led to a S.H.I.E.L.D file. Redacted.”

“That doesn't answer how you learned to fight like that.”

“Do you know what it’s like growing up moving foster home to foster home through the system, with breaks in the most ‘traditionally’ run catholic orphanage you can think of? Learning to dodge blows, know where not to be, when not to be around, how to pretend to behave perfectly, moderate your tone, read people, even extremely hard to read ones, just to survive? And then as a teenager on the streets of New York, it doesn't get easier. I learned to protect myself because the other option was… bad. Then I got into hacking, and did some jobs for some dangerous people, for the Rising Tide, and others, and I needed even more to protect myself. I found a tutor, no idea where she learned to fight, but I practiced and trained with her every day for years. I’m sorry I scared you with it, I didn't think S.H.I.E.L.D agents would scare so easily.”

Through this sob story weave of truth, half truth and fiction, that was still true enough I started tearing up, Coulson looked more and more chastised. While May, well, she seems less actively aggressive, maybe even a little piteous? Which doesn’t feel great, but it’s better than angry and suspicious. Coulson clearly wants to say something.

“I’m sorry. That's tough. Do you know anything about your teacher?”

“One day I got up for training, and she was standing there with her bags packed. She said I was done, wished me luck, and vanished. I have no idea where she is.”

Coulson whispers something to May, then says

“Can you give us a description of this woman?”

Fuck. Ok, do I go with Yelena, or one of her fellow Widows? Hmm. Oksana maybe? Lena said she always had a teacher’s heart. And if she's still working on that Anti-mind control stuff like we planned, it'd be good to get back in contact. Oh, they'll probably wonder why I'd give her up so easily. I should ask about it first, after all I'm not supposed to know my teacher was a Widow, or what that means.

“Why? She helped me, saved my life in more than one way. I like you all, but I don't want her hurt or arrested just because she helped me."

"Skye, she's probably a mercenary and assassin. An extremely dangerous one. Based on what we know, she could be in danger though, so, we just want to talk to her. If she's willing to leave that behind, and work with us, she'll be ok, I promise."

Note to self, don't trust May's promises. Though I don't think she trusts me yet, so the feeling is mutual. What a load of probably crap. Then again, they helped Lena's sister, and she's seemingly alright, and of course famous and kind of popular. But still, don't know what she had to go through to get to that point. And it's unlikely the same would apply to a former Widow mercenary who's been free for years and still working. Still, have to make it seem like I believe them and agree.

"Fine, as long as you've promised. Dark hair, Shoulder length, very fit, liked wearing sturdy button downs with the sleeves rolled to the elbow, cargo pants and hiking boots, dark brown eyes, roughly 5’7”.”

“Thanks. We’ll have to talk to a sketch artist sometime. And Skye, I’ll look into this.”  

Says Coulson, gesturing at the chip.

“Thank you. Can we please get out of this box like 20,000 leagues under the ground?”

Coulson smirks

“That's usually used in water but a good reference. Alright, Cmon.”

Well that went better than expected, all things considered. Maybe I’ll even get help with finding my parents. And if they do manage to find Oksana, that’ll help us too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Agent Phil Coulson:

Looking around at the damage, and all the mechanics noises in the hanger, it’s strange to think the plane had just been refurbished, and when I say "strange" I mean a little sad. Unfortunately, Director Fury had a different idea about what to think about it.

“Really? Really, Coulson? Six days? It only took you six days to take a completely renovated piece of state-of-the-art machinery and turn it into scrap?!”

“My team acted with my authority.”

“Don't talk to me about authority. Do you know how much this plane cost? It's got a bar. A really nice one. You know, I have the authority to downgrade your ass to a Winnebago!”

“I'm aware of that, sir.”

“Well, I want it fixed just like you found it. So don't have Fitz-Simmons going making modifications, like a-a-a-a... damn fish tank.”

“Yes sir.”

“And that file request you sent me. Do you have any idea the shitstorm you're diggin’ up with that?”

“No sir, It’s just a simple request for an unredacted version of a file. I’m not sure why-”

“Clearly not! That case is one of the biggest Fuck-ups S.H.I.E.L.D. has made in the last 30 years! And also one of the most dangerous. We lost a lot of good people on that one, including my SO at the time. A good man. One of the few people I’ve ever trusted in my life. Only reason I wasn’t on that mission is I was still doing analysis.”

“I didn't-”

“You said your risk, the new girl, said this was all she had about herself?"

“Yes sir.”

“Alright. I’m telling you because you should know in that case. You're one of the few, remember that. Don’t go spouting this shit to anyone. Consider it Level 10.”

“Can I tell her?”

“If she is who I think she is, yes. But no one else, except May, who I figure would find out one way or another inside of a month, if you didn't break and tell her. I'll get the file to reference."

He exits the repair area, and then comes back after a little while, handing over a physical file folder.

He just, Carries that around with him in physical copy? I guess that speaks to how secret he keeps it. Or that he was Expecting to give it to me.

"In 1988, my SO, a level 8 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and a large team, got called on an 084 in the Hunan province of China. A whole village, roughly 800 people, were fucking Massacred, apparently in search of this 084. My SO managed to send for back up, who arrived in time to find him bleeding out from a gunshot wound to the neck, and the rest of the 30 agent team dead. He was still holding it. They had to check to make sure it was still breathing there was so much blood. But apparently she started to cry, and my SO asked the team to keep her safe before dying of blood loss.”

“The Baby? The baby was the 084?!” 

I, for completely understandable reasons, am having trouble processing all this, and then Director Fury continues, and adds more to the pile.

“According to some reports, she had powers or something. The specifics were never witnessed, or at least never reported, so we have no record of what they might be, but there you go. The team brought her back to the states, only for them to start getting crossed off. In real fucked-up ways too, skull bashed in, ribs broken so badly they pierce the heart, in one particularly horrific scene, one of them had their spine ripped out. So it was decided that they erase her records, and put her into the foster system, in the most off the grid orphanage they could find quickly, and vanish.”

“Wait, but how- you, Director?"

“Yeah, me. Someone had to help Agent Avery fake the level 8 authorization, and someone had to keep the files and move the kid around foster homes every few months while keeping track of her.”

“So, what happened?”

"Well, Agent Linda Avery, one of the team’s two remaining survivors was killed, and the other, Agent Richard Lumley, went dark, still have no idea where he is or if he's alive.”

“What about the girl?”

“The kid? As I said, I moved her around every few months if she hadn't already been moved, till she was 16.”

“Why stop at 16?”

“The orphanage she was in burned down, all the adults running it supposedly died in the fire, but all the kids survived, except the distinct absence of one particular girl, who I never managed to find. Looks like this mission did net you an 084 Coulson, just not one either of us expected.”

I was speechless for a minute, maybe two, processing. But as Fury turned to leave, I managed to speak up.

“What do you mean “Supposedly”?”

“Well, the body of the oldest lady runnin’ the place was burnt like all the others, but there were stab wounds in her legs and chest consistent with an NR-40.”

“The Soviet knife?”

“Yep. Good luck with the team. Careful with the new girl. I worked hard to keep you alive, and wherever she goes, death follows.”

And he walked off in classic Fury fashion. I don’t even know how to process what he told me. But I have to tell Skye, and probably May.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skye:

I waited till I was sure everyone was asleep, and then went to the farthest, least echo-y part of the bus. It was our planned call, and… I need to see Lena’s face. I hope she still wants to see mine after I tell her, but I can’t keep this from her. I open the secure video channel I created, and right on the dot, she’s calling. I answer.

There's her pretty face, a little sooty, but unharmed. God I’ve missed her. 

She speaks 

“How is Antonia’s tank?”

I respond with our passphrase/in joke and then the response passphrase:

“сука, я мог бы. How’s Agnes?”

“Беззвёздный и неизведанный Skye! It has been so long since I see your face, it is lovely as ever. Though, it looks like you have been crying? Who hurt you? Where are they? What is their name?”

“Thats not it Lena. I found out about my parents, well, I think, or at least, I found out about where I came from.”

And even just thinking about it, I can’t help but cry

“No, no, Skye, don’t cry, I-”

“It's ok Lena, well, it’s not, but, I need to tell you."

“Ok, lie it on me.”

“The story of how I ended up at that orphanage starts out in Hunan, China…”

Chapter Text

Agent Phillip J. Coulson:

It’d been roughly 3 weeks all told since Skye joined the team on the Bus, and after the revelations a few days ago, I still needed time to process, and figure out what to do with, at the least, a widow-trained fighter and hacker, not even to get into the whole 084 thing, that hasn't been properly certified or checked by S.H.I.E.L.D. at all. In the old days, I’d have gotten right to finding the Widow that trained her and where she is, if she exists, as well as assessing Skye and putting her on the index. For now, the best we managed was videoing a S.H.I.E.L.D. sketch artist so Director Fury could assign his teams a search target. Though Skye claims she has no enhanced abilities, it’s hard to know if she's telling the truth, even though I want to trust her. As it is, Director Fury wanted her to stay off the books for now, so the Index is not an option. He ‘s been subtly sending people to find the Red Room, apparently it still exists, and this has only made the task more urgent, along with giving them the sketch of Skye's possible trainer, not that he’s told Romanoff about either. A decision I find myself heavily disagreeing with. I wasn't happy with the Director's decision not to tell them about me, but this? Feels like a step too far. But we need to know how trustworthy Skye is. Fury only kept track of her till she was 16. With everything we’ve seen, it’s completely possible the Red Room found out where S.H.I.E.L.D. was keeping a living 084, if they weren't the ones hunting her in the first place, grabbed her, and destroyed the orphanage to keep the records confused. Only proof we have that it wasn't them is they didn't take every girl there. Then again, they could've assumed we’d think she died in the fire. My gut says we can trust her, but May says she’s still holding out on something, and I agree. But whatever is going on with her we need to assess her capabilities, and without being able to put her on the books as being recruited, or a consultant, I need someone to do that. May… agreed, which surprised me, but maybe she's getting more comfortable in the field like I hoped. Then again, she could just want to keep an eye on her and not trust Agent Ward to do it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Agent Melinda May:

It’s been years since I last did something like this. Before Bahrain was the last. They finally convinced me to take someone on and be an SO again, of course it was a former assassin, but I think I was doing alright work. But she was prepping for undercover work with Stark and hadn't gained solo field certification yet, so I went with Phil to Bahrain with a Tac team, and then... everything happened. 

I just, I have to, there's no one else remotely qualified to do it, The Director is too busy, and apparently can't be trusted to be objective about this, Hill is busy as AD, Romanoff would be even less objective than Fury if he ever decided to tell her, Agent Morse is in deep cover, and no one else would know what to test or look for. I’m not her SO, I’m just testing her combat skills to certify her as a field asset. That's it. That story she told could be just that, a story. I have to get to it, Coulson is waiting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Agent Phil Coulson:

May enters the office, having gotten back from her few days with Skye. The rest of the team has been extremely curious about what's been going on with her, and what we’ve been doing, but they are not cleared for any of this information, so I’ve had to leave them in the dark, aside from telling them we're doing a field asset assessment. They'll do better without worrying about a possible assassin and traitor in our midst. Better to plan in advance and be able to complete the missions and let them deal with it when it comes up.

“So, May, what do you think?”

“Well, she's about on par with Ward for firearms skill, maybe better with Long range shots.”

“That's pretty good, so we know she can handle a gun.”

“He has 3 of the academy sniping records Phil, and she matched him at range. We ran out of distance before she could fall behind Ward. There are only a few currently operating field agents with better marks, and one of them’s Barton.”

“Oh. Forgot about that particular part of Ward's files.”

“She’s not as good as Romanoff in unarmed, but I could see her getting there. She wasn't far off. She could almost definitely beat Agent Morse as well as Agent Barton in unarmed Hand-to-hand. I lost 3 of the rounds of sparring we did.”

“You LOST?”

“Yes Phil, I lost. Three times. I had her on the mat the other 7 times, but the only member of S.H.I.E.L.D. to have me on the mat more is Romanoff. Overall her combat skills are easily up there with S.H.I.E.L.D.s best, and to quote her, she is "out of practice, I couldn't keep up with my normal training routine in case any of you were watching for the past month either on the Bus or waiting for you to catch me, you were slow on that by the way." And that "I'll be winning after another month, once I get back up to where I was, I'm a fast learner."

"Well she certainly doesn't lack for confidence, though it's interesting she was intentionally hiding the combat skill from us. So, big question #1: Is she enhanced?"

"Not as far as I could tell. She was injured as normal, and while skilled, none of her strength or accuracy was past the plausible human norm or better than what some of our best baseline agents can do. I didn't see any evidence of any other abilities either. Unless she's hiding them, her only near-enhanced ability is according to Simmons she heals a little faster and better than baseline, but its such a small difference we probably wouldn't have noticed if we weren't keeping a close eye on her to spot anything, and there are agents and contractors that also do, though not as well, and that hasn't been enough to mark them as enhanced. Simmons wanted to know why I asked and I told her it was simply a part of the field assessment for non-S.H.I.E.L.D. field team members when certifying for combat. She didn't seem to question it."

“Alright, something to keep an eye on, but at least its not alarming. And, big question #2: Could she be a Widow?”

“Considering that if she is, she was taken much later than most of the others Romanoff reported, absolutely. Especially if she’s good enough to know to hold back.”

The statement did not fill me with confidence and trust. But something about May’s expression gave me pause in the doom and gloom.

“You have something, May?”

“No, just a feeling.”

“Well, what does your gut tell you?”

“That she held something back when we were questioning her, but I don't think she’s a Widow, or at least, I don't feel like she is. You pointed out something I noticed as well, that she's been intentionally hiding her skills until it was neccissary to reveal them, which I think definitely indicates she's holding back something significant. She’s a very good liar and even better at reading people, but even only working with a sample size of one and that one’s reports, she’s not quite got the essentials of spycraft down to the degree a Widow would, though Skye is better than an average field agent, unless she’s been faking it well. Then again, based on what you told me, she was taken Much later, and all we have to go on are Romanoff's skills and initial reports, and she is... Not the most objective when it comes to all of this. So it's plausible Romanoff, or Skye, is an outlier when it comes to spycraft for Widows. And thats assuming she's not downplaying or faking her skill level."

“In which case we’re screwed anyway.”

“I still don't trust her fully, but I’d be willing to certify her skills as a field asset. I can't confirm or deny her skill in computers.”

“Good, with you still behind the stick, we've been needing another fighter. As far as her computer skills I feel that she's amply demonstrated them, and at the level she seems to be at, we'd have to get Stark in and there are a number of reasons not to do that. So I’ll request confirmation from Fury to designate Skye as a comp sci & field asset for now. Luckily, we’re already on the Bus, so we don't have to move bases every few weeks, that’d be a pain in the ass.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, thanks May.”

And she walks out, not even a glance back.

Time was, once she’d have made some snarky comment back to me. Well, she’ll get there, I hope, maybe even properly back into the field someday.  Didn't think I’d see her evaluate anyone again. It's strange, I think I missed it? Time to let our newest asset know. 

Chapter Text

As soon as we got back to the Bus from evaluation Agent May skulked off to inform Agent Coulson of my results. I lost a bunch on the mat, which makes me unhappy, but she seems very good, so I can excuse myself. Plus, I haven’t been keeping up with training, though May said I can again, so that's a relief. Maybe she’ll spar again after a bit, it could be fun. It’d be better than having to spar with Agent Ward. He moves like a stiff plank of wood, it just wouldn't be fair to him, and more importantly, it wouldn't teach me anything. 

Speak of the devil. Here he comes.

“Now that you're back from your assessment, I’ve come to retrieve any extra weaponry until Coulson decides to okay you for field duty.” Ward says

“Yeah, that's not gonna happen. If Agent Coulson himself asks me to give him my weapons I might, but till then, they're stickin' with me.” I reply

Off to the side, Fitzsimmons has approached. I can just barely hear Fitz mutter to Simmons

“I really hope we get to see her beat up Ward.”

“Fitz!”

“What? The guy could use being taken down a peg or two.”

About now seems like the right time to speak up again

“I don’t plan on it, unless he keeps standing in my way.”

I look back at Agent Ward, who is grimacing at me so hard I feel like he’ll pull a muscle.

“So, why don’t you step out of the way so Fitzsimmons can show me whatever it is they want to show me.”

Ward quickly turns around and stalks off to either the gym or Coulson’s office. 

“That was amazing! I didn't think anyone could just handle Agent Ward like that!” Says Fitz

“You really stared him down.” Adds Simmons.

“Well, he’s not the scariest guy I’ve ever had look at me like that.” Unfortunately, I realize I’ve said way more than I meant to slightly too late. Fitz gives me a Look, and while I’m not sure exactly what he means by it yet, I think he gets it. Simmons meanwhile has artificially perked up, and is already onto the next topic

“So, Skye, you were holding out on us! This whole time and you can fight? You didn’t train with S.H.I.E.L.D. so I’m not sure how you learned to fight like that, but It’s good to know you can keep yourself safe!”

She seems to have changed conversation angles mid-sentence, probably picking up questions might not be welcome at the moment.

“Fitz and I were so worried about you in the field, at least we went to the academy! I didn't want to think you were in more danger than we were while out and about on missions, and rescuing other people, wouldn't want to have to rescue you as well!”

Fitz, under his breath again, says “yeah, cause we were so well prepared for fieldwork and are so safe.”

I had trouble keeping up with the ramble, which changed tone and content multiple times as we walked to the lab, but I was glad she worried about me.

“I’ve been cleared as an asset to do computer stuff for S.H.I.E.L.D.. Also fully cleared for field things and combat.”

“That's great! Also that means-” starts Simmons 

“-that we can bring you in on our night-night pistol project!” Finishes Fitz

“I told you Fitz, there's no way they're going to call it that.”

“Why not Jemma? It's a perfectly good name and it describes what they do!”

I use that as an opening before I can lose them to their back and forth “And what does it do?” 

“You remember the way we tranquilized Mike Peterson?” Asks Simmons

“Yeah, I remember wondering if Agent Ward killed him, only for it to look like a weird necrotic blue paintball hit him in the head and knocked him out.”

“Hmm, I suppose “Necrotic” is a good way to describe the vein discolouration. Though I’m surprised you know the word.” Says Simmons.

“Not that we think you're stupid of course, It’s just not the sort of word we’d expect you to know.” Adds Fitz. 

“Well, one of the few good times I had in a foster family was playing an mmo with their kids. One of them kept wanting me to make weapons for them, and necrotic damage had the fewest creatures with resistance.”

I figure it’s best I leave out the circumstances I’d have learned it in as an adult if not for my gaming habit.

“oh, cool! Which game did you-”

“Fitz, I doubt Skye is interested in joining you in whatever game you're playing now, plus, to the point, we haven't finished explaining the consciousness neutralizing projectile pistols yet!”

“I’m totally interested.” I say, leaning over to Fitz and whispering conspiratorially

“Right!, well the Night-Night Pistol-” He shoots a look at Simmons before turning back to me. “- is a .45 caliber, semi-automatic pistol, sized for easy holster carry. Each mag, has 8 rounds of therapeutic dendrotoxin-”

“In case you miss…. Or! Have multiple assailants.” 

Nice save there Simmons

“Right. Because the rifle, while good, doesn’t solve a lot of the issues in the field that various agents, consultants, or assets have with quickly stopping an opponent without killing them.” 

“Not that we aren't grateful to everything you’ve done so far Skye, it’s just, was a lot and we don't want you to feel badly about it, and-” Simmons chimes in nervously

“And this was in development for a while! Before we’d even met you, as you saw in the train station, and also it makes knocking out the bad guys easier! We’re perfectly ok with you and everything! We just, figured we could finish earlier, for Ward!” continues Fitz

Real convincing rambling there, Fitzsimmons.

“and we have to get Agent Ward’s approval anyway, as current ranking specialist on the team, since you're an asset, and not a member of S.H.I.E.L.D.-”

“Again, not that we don’t appreciate you Skye! You're a member of this team.”

“Exactly. But procedure requires the Specialist to approve any experimental combat tech for the field before usage.”

They are Really nervous. It’s weird, they were fine laughing and joking until… they brought up the new non-lethal gun.

Oh.

I feel kind of bad now. I do like them, I just have a lot to do, and I want to keep everyone safe, and those MPs weren't exactly planning on non-lethal tactics. First priority is completing the objective, then protecting allies, then worry about lethality, right? Hopefully they'll get less jittery around me in time. 

“Well, we’ll make sure to get it working soon, but in the meantime, there's some calibration to do, and-”

“Skye!”

There's Ward yelling for some reason. I should go see what he wants.

I walk out of the lab, and there at the base of the spiral staircase is an unhappy-looking Agent Grant Douglas Ward (yes I hacked his file, I did that a little while ago. Why wouldn't I? I have to work with him, and he’s weapons trained and apparently a pretty good shot.)

“Yeah, Ward? What's up?”

“It's Agent Ward. And I need to test your weapons capabilities. We're going to the range.”

“Nice try, I just got back with Agent May from there, and she already did all that. I take it your talk with Agent Coulson didn't go so well?”

He frowns “My discussion with a fellow Agent shouldn't be your business.”

“Even when it's a discussion about me not being here?”

“Especially when it’s- how did you know that??”

“It’s pretty obvious. You go up there to talk to him Immediately after I get back with May, and come down angry and also immediately yell for me.”

He seems like he's about to groan in frustration, before schooling his face and saying “Alright. Well humour me anyway, if you want to be a part of this team, you need to learn to cooperate with fellow team members.”

That's rich, coming from him, but whatever. 

“Alright, let's go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We get back after I kick his ass a little at the range, though he is, admittedly, a really good shot, I couldn't help but rub his face in it after he spent SO long annoying me and bragging about his one or two thousand yard shot on the way there, I had to show him up, even a little, though that was a harder task than I expected it to be. He stomps up the ramp with me. When we’re fully back on the plane I remember.

“Oh! Fitzsimmons were looking for you to approve some new weapon they want you to look at? You should probably head to the lab to talk to them.”

“Oh great. Fine.” He stalks off to the lab. 

I go to my bunk to go get my laptop. I’ve got some S.H.I.E.L.D. files on the widow info they have so far I’m still sorting through, and I need somewhere quiet to look at them. Luckily, the bulletproof vans in the hanger have blackout windows, and are pretty quiet. Also, they kinda remind me of my van, so I’m a little more comfortable in there doing my work.

After a little while of working, there's 2 knocking taps on the window of the SUV. 

I roll down the window, and it’s Agent Coulson. 

“What’s up Phil?” (Again, working with/for him, of course I looked into him a bit)

“I’d prefer you not call me “Phil”.”

“Ok, you're the boss… A.C. Just, missin’ my van a bit, takin’ some me time.”

“I want your help with something.”

Oh, Interesting. Something he wants my help with specifically, and hasn't called a team meeting about.

“Hit me with it.”

“You ever rob a casino?”

Huh. Not what I was expecting.

“No.”

“How about a Bank?”

“Can I answer that without getting in trouble?”

He gives me a look.

“I’ll allow it this once.”

“Then technically yes. Probably not the way you mean though, I didn't burst in with guns or anything, just hacked some accounts and transferred digital funds. Banks are not as secure with their digital records as they could be.”

“That wasn't the way I meant, no. And we’ll talk about that later. What about an Armored Car?”

Images of rifle fire, armed and armored people in combat suits jumping out the back of a van, a different vehicle with a group of little girls tied up and gagged in back, another with a large padded black transport case, sounds of explosions and crying and the smell of smoke and diesel. The feel of an electric motorcycle underneath me, the wind in my face, and Yelena’s arms around my waist as I silently pull into a large black trucks blind spot.

“... Yeah, a few times.”

“Digitally, or…?”

“The way you mean? The latter. Not sure how you digitally rob an Armored truck.” An idea comes to mind. “Though, if the transport records are electronic you can-”

“Alright. I probably don’t want to hear what you're about to say.” Says Coulson. “Somebody’s stealing millions of dollars in diamonds. They’ve found a way to crack the security systems. I want you to figure out their exploit. For the armored car, maybe the strategy will help as well.”

This should be interesting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stockholm, Sweden:

“Yesterday, 55 men, all military, were hired by one of the largest gem brokers in the world. They dressed the men in identical outfits, including identical red face masks, gave each one a randomly assigned briefcase, and sent them along 25 different routes here in Stockholm. No one knew which briefcase contained the diamonds, but they were still stolen.” Says Coulson

“Why the Kabuki theater?” Asks May

“They were afraid because somebody’s targeting diamonds, an armored car in Milan, a safe in Monte Carlo, and now this. Over $30 million total. Each theft occurred despite heavy security.”

“They sound like inside jobs.”

“A lot of people share that opinion.”

I figure it's time to speak up “You don’t. Did CCTV cameras catch any of the action?”

“Fitzsimmons is checking. The system went dark for an hour. They think it was hacked.”

“It was the same thieves each time?”

“Yes, but it was just one thief, a woman. And she did it all with her eyes closed.” 

“Eyewitnesses I.D. her?” May asks

“Black, athletic build, late 20s early 30s.”

I have an idea, but it’s pretty strange. Then again, alien gods and giant green monsters seemed a lot more than pretty strange not too long ago. 

“So, she knew things no one could’ve, and closed her eyes so she couldn't see and still managed this? What if she didn't need to see, what if she was able to “see” everything another way? What if she had some sort of superpowers that let her?”

“There are no credible studies that support precognition, telepathy or extrasensory perception.” responds May

“Ok, so far science says no. But science said no to a lot of things it had to later say yes to. She knew impossible things. Also, why’d she close her eyes? That’s either random or totally important.”

“There's no proof of ESP, but we’ll keep it in mind.”

Agent May walks over to A.C. and gives him a Look, tilting her head

“Why does H.Q. want us investigating these heists?”

“They don’t. I picked this Op.”

Stranger and stranger. I wonder what he expects to find. 

“I’m getting full bars. Which, you know what an average person does when there are a bunch of guys down here in scary red masks? Post it.”

There are so many pics and videos. Thank you social media.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Bus:

“It’s amazing. Every year this part of our job gets easier. With all the different social media, people are surveilling themselves.” says Coulson

“I can use your facial recognition software and juice it a bit to get IDs, see if any match your creepy surveillance state database.” I add

Coulson meanwhile, is looking at the screen with an expression I can't identify

“You don't have to. That’s the thief. Her name’s Akela Amador.”

“You’re certain?” Asks May

“I should be, I trained her.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Akela Amador was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Seven years ago she led a raid on one of Vanchat’s Gulags.” Coulson starts

“Who’s “Vanchat”?” I ask

Coulson starts leading us back out and downstairs

“An arms and alien metal dealer, we’ve linked him to Centipede.” says May

“Everyone believed that Akela and the other two agents on the mission were killed. I had my doubts. So I sent in a second team, just in case. They found a lot of carnage but couldn’t confirm that any of it was Amador, left the possibility open.”

“That’s why you chose this op, when you heard about the heists.” 

“There are only a few women in the world who could pull off something so impossible. Since you two are on the Bus, and Romanoff is on mission, I thought it had to be her.” says Coulson

We enter the planning room, Ward is standing in front of a big monitor covered in info on Akela Amador

“Swedish customs confirmed that Amador left the country using an alias on a Swedish passport. She flew to Belarus, brought a train ticket to a town called Zloda. I’ve also put together a list of individuals who may fence that many diamonds. There’s been no contact or activity.” he says

“Maybe she’s saving them for a rainy day, buying something special. Let’s focus on finding Amador.” adds Coulson, half jokingly

Agent May chimes in “I’ll let H.Q. know she’s alive so they can assist with the manhunt.”

“I’d like to hold off on that.”

Agent May, as well as Ward, give him a confused look, well, as confused as May ever gets. 

“Until we know more. Contact Belarus authorities. Find us a place to park The Bus. Put together a list of inns, hotels and pensions near Zloda. There can’t be that many of them. We’ll find her.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zloda, Belarus:

I’m sitting alone in a S.H.I.E.L.D. surveillance van at a S.H.I.E.L.D. computer, checking for S.H.I.E.L.D.-adjacent and other strange unidentified signals and feeds. Agents Coulson and Ward went into the hotel to see if they’ve seen former Agent Amador. Fitzsimmons are back in the plane with May in case we need something. They were… reluctant to go into the field again, and Coulson and May were reluctant to leave me alone with them in the van on their first stakeout. Simmons has apparently always wanted to come to Zloda for a scientist she admires, and got into a whole thing with Fitz about it. Coulson convinced Agent May to lie to S.H.I.E.L.D. about what we’re doing, specifically how much we know, which is surprising considering how much of a stickler she seems like. 

I guess she knows A.C. really cares about his team, and feels at fault when they get hurt, and tries to prevent it, and gives second chances. At least, that's how it seems to me. Maybe I’m wrong, but he seems like a good guy, who cares about people, and gives them the chance. Us I suppose, I doubt I’d be here if he wasn't all about second chances. 

The computer feed I’ve been working on resolves into an image of a van. After a second I recognize the location and put it together… it's this van. Then it changes to an x-ray image of the inside at the same angle, as I go and grab a pistol and rush towards the front seat.

Shit, gotta call Coulson, and- Stupid tall person Ward! I can't reach the pedal! 

I turn, seeing the small truck with former Agent Amador herself in the driver's seat coming at the van from a ways away, pull up the gun, and aim at her head. Suddenly, all of the things Coulson had done to keep her safe and held out hope for her already come to mind.

It’s an easy shot. But A.C. wouldn't want me to kill her. 

Shit.

I move my aim down and to the right as she starts moving back towards me. Perfect shot right through her shoulder. Followed by 2 shots, one in each front tire. The truck loses control and she struggles with her injured shoulder, though not in time to regain it. The truck turns, tilts…

And slams down skidding sideways several feet. 

I keep the pistol up and ready to fire when she pops back up. Which, after a tense moment, she does, but she manages to get a shot off first. I feel an impact along my leg, and pain, as I pull the trigger, the sudden spike of hurt and motion in my leg means I miss, though how she knew exactly where my leg was through a car door I don’t know. We exchange shots, her popping up from the front driver window using the bottom and inside of the truck as cover, me peeking out of the van door window, but after a few shots I’m out. I take a look around the inside of the van.

Hopefully Coulson left me more ammo, or shows up soon as backup, I doubt Agent Ward trusts me with a weapon at the moment. I don't know why he's been all huffy about me being approved as a field asset. Maybe hustling in on his job? Not comfortable with someone that he liked deceiving him about their skills? Protective of the team? There're a number of reasons, but right now I'm just hoping they didn't override his common sense about equipping people in the field.

I do spot a rifle case, and rush over to it, opening it quickly.

I recognize this thing. It’s the rifle version of those night-night guns Fitzsimmons were talking about, Ward used it on Mike Peterson. Well if it can take out a super-strong anger-bomb, it can probably knock her out. Hopefully it handles close enough to a regular rifle. 

I grab it and rush back to the front seat, in time to spot Former Agent Amador rushing towards me from where the turned over truck is. I don't have time to do any of the proper checks for aiming, luckily, this is my specialty. I quickly rest my arms on the shattered driver-side window space, avoiding the bits of glass still in the window frame, and line up a shot. Ward hit Peterson between the eyes, so I'll aim for that too, just to be safe, I don't know enough about this rifle and ammo to know if it’ll work otherwise. One shot, and she’s down. 

Right between the eyes as intended, good. Very low recoil, and it felt… lighter? Hmm. I’ll have to ask Fitzsimmons about it. Oof, the face-first skid along the gravel road couldn't have been pleasant, hopefully it doesn't wake her up, I don’t know if multiple shots from this thing into the same person is dangerous. 

 Of course, that was the moment Ward and Coulson finally get back to my location, guns drawn, only to look at the situation and holster them. At which point, mildy flabbergasted looking, A.C. speaks up

“Skye? What… Happened?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Bus:

I’m walking back to Coulson's office after being checked out by Simmons, who was WAY too panicked about a bullet grazing me. I’m limping a little, and it left a decently deep gash for a graze, but I should be fine in a few days or so, though the bandaging I had to pull my pants up over was not the most comfortable. As I’m approaching the office, I hear Ward saying

“-probably take a while for Skye to refocus while she heals.”

I figure this is as good an entrance as I’m gonna get, so I lean into the office and say 

“Fitzsimmons are keeping Akela sedated while we figure out what that feed was. I’ve got the recording from when I clarified it till after it went dark set up on the monitor for us to take a look at and find out what’s going on and what to do with her. Or at least an idea of who was watching her.”

Ward looks rather unhappy at my interruption proving him wrong. But we all head down to take a look.

Onscreen, there's the image of the van, and then after a moment, theres that swap to what looks like an x-ray of it, with me rushing forward again. The video follows the gunfight, swapping between regular and x-ray, but something about its motion is… strange. After a couple of replays (and Fitzsimmons making impressed and scared comments about the gunfight, followed by mild bragging about the “night-night gun” as Fitz calls it), Coulson points out what's been bothering me, as well as apparently him. 

“Do you see that?” Pointing at the rearview mirror in shot, sideways as Akela peaks up from inside the sideways truck. 

“What? It’s just her face?- Oh! Where's the camera?”

“Exactly.”

We slow down and rewind, and the moment the camera meets Akela’s eye seems to be the moment she’s meeting her own eye.

“Oh wow.”

“Is that possible, that her eye is-?”

The image switches to that X-ray again as she takes the shot at my leg through the door. I’m really lucky the internal mechanism deflected it, or I could've been dealing with a serious issue. But that's not the focus (ha) of the moment. In the reflection of the mirror, her own face is visible, one eye seems fully mechanical, with some complex tech in her skull where her right eye would be.

Fitz speaks up as it changes back from the X-ray 

“It switches to backscatter x-ray when she closes her eyes!”

“Who has tech like this?” Ward asks

“We don't. Not like this, that’s small and internal. That’s at least a decade ahead of anything I’ve seen. Though now that I’ve seen it I could maybe approximate it. The backscatter x-ray, a microtransceiver that somehow doesn’t fry her brain, an internal power source-” says Fitz

“All miniaturized honestly, it’s…” continues Simmons 

“That’s-”

“Genius.” They both say

“I’ll call HQ, have them put together a cell with appropriate shielding based on what Fitzsimmons recommend-” Agent May says, but is interrupted by Coulson

“No. Let's first finish assessing the situation and find out why she was doing this, and who’s watching her.”

“I get it. You feel responsible, maybe you pushed her too hard. But she tried to kill a member of our team.”

“We don't know why. Until we do, we need to keep her with us to evaluate-”

“We got lucky. You want to risk the lives of our team again?”

“You told me you were ready to be in the field, that you had my back.”

“Don’t ever doubt it. But you are defending this girl at the expense of the team.”

“Because we’re protecting our own.”

“With all due respect, sir, she’s not one of our own.” Ward adds, but I get the feeling he means it to apply to both me and Akela. But that doesn't matter, because the footage loops back to the start, and as she scans the van with her “backscatter” as Fitzsimmons called it, words appear at the bottom of the feed. I missed it the first time, because I was busy rushing with the gun to the front.

“Guys?”

They all turn to look at the screen, where the words “Immobilize the vehicle and take her out.” appeared over her looking at me 

“So she also receives orders through the camera feed.” Says Ward

We keep watching, and after she takes the bullet in the shoulder and the truck flips, she gets out of her seatbelt, pulls a pen and pad out of the dash, and writes 

“Can I apply medical to my shoulder?”

And then in her feed, first appears

 “Stand By”

Followed by 

“No. Eliminating the asset is the priority.”

“Why does she have to ask permission to give herself medical care?” Asks Simmons

The footage continues, and as I drop my gun in the van, she writes another message on the pad 

“Can I exfil? I’m out of ammunition, losing blood, and won't be able to complete the mission successfully.”

And again

“Standing by”

Followed by

“Negative. Eliminating target and obtaining intel is priority.”

She writes “I’m not sure I can successfully complete both at this juncture. Between the injury and-”

“You will complete both objectives, or I’ll need to use the Fail-Safe. And you’ll be a lot more than injured.”

At which she grabs a knife, gets out of the truck, and proceeds to rush at me, before I use the night night rifle on her.

“She’s not being watched, she’s being controlled.” says Coulson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I knock on the door to Coulsons office, and walk in.

“I just wanted to give you a quick update. She’s still unconscious. Fitz is working on something to match her eye’s abilities so we can move the feed to it, and Simmons is analysing what we’d need to do to help with that bomb they found. So… that's the update. Pretty weird day, huh? Shot at by a woman with an x-ray eye. Doesn't happen often.” 

“That should never have happened.” says Coulson

“It's ok, not my first time.”

“Getting “shot by a woman with an x-ray eye”?”

“Oh, not the X-ray eye part, besides, she only grazed me.”

“So you’ve been shot before? When? Was it part of "training" with that woman?”

So he's not even pretending to not know I'm holding back something about that, alright.

“I mean, I lived in a van in middle of New York for a while, not the safest thing to do.”

“Still, it shouldn't have happened. You regret coming along?”

I get the sense he knows I’m avoiding answering the question, but he just lets it slide? Weird.

“I mean, I hopefully helped you out, and her. But I still don't know much about you. Hypocritical I know, but you’re in charge, and I don't really know you yet, other than you value really old stuff,... And second chances. Like me. You value and trust me, despite everything. Only one other person's ever done that, so I happen to believe you're an excellent judge of character. If you think this woman deserves a second chance, we should give it to her,... even though she tried to kill me and I kind of hate her guts.”

I see him smiling as I exit his office and close the door behind me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake up, and am told that Fitzsimmons are working on figuring out how to safely remove Akelas camera eye while keeping her sedated, and I’m supposed to track down her handler. Or as Coulson put it 

“She seems to have a killswitch, I need to know who’s got their finger on the trigger.”

I start by tracking the signal of the feed, which is dormant, but online, and triangulating. It's hard, as there's almost no actual data being transmitted in either direction. But there is a little, and that's enough. We’re all on muted comms while Simmons completes the procedure, so when there's a yell from her, followed by a BANG, we’re all checking in

“Simmons?! Are you and Fitz alright? Is Akela alright? What was that?”

“Well sir, it seems that the failsafe was a small electrical explosive, and amongst however else it was meant to be triggered remotely, it was also triggered by the signal being disconnected fully. Luckily, I panicked and threw it at the opposite side of the lab when Fitz recognized the explosive material attached to the artificial optic nerve. We’ll have to replace a few things, and the wall is scorched, but everyone is alright. Well, when I say alright, I mean Agent Amador is still missing an eye, but, overall everyone is ok.”

And while that's good news, It also seems to have ended the search, as the signal I was tracking is gone when I check back on the laptop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The team checked out the area we last had a signal from the feed, but there's no one there, and when we asked around, no one saw anyone unusual. We didn't even get any good info from the cameras, despite a vague idea of a description Coulson and Akela Amador put together. 

Speaking of, Coulson is apparently going to testify on her behalf, which… I wouldn't have expected, except, maybe I’m starting to get to know good ol’ A.C., because that sounds exactly like the thing he’d do. He really seems to care about people. 

I’ve just finished messaging Lena an update when Coulson opens the door to the SUV I’m sitting in the back of.

“Are you still needing your you time?” He asks me

“There’s always room for A.C.” I reply, closing my laptop, hopefully at an angle he can't see what I was doing. “Slide on in.” and he does

“What’s wrong with “Agent Coulson”? Or just “Coulson”?”

“Nothing, I guess. A.C.’s just way cooler. Cause you are, cool. I mean, how many people would have made that call to give Amador a second chance?”

“I got one. Seems only fair I extend the same opportunity to others. I see why you like it in here.”

“Yeah, It’s kind of like my van… Without all the people trying to break in. I don’t miss that. It’s more peaceful here. It’s also cool knowing that someone else has my back, no matter what.”

“Peaceful’s good.”

And we both sit back.

I think I'm starting to get attached to this team, cause I'm comfortable just sitting here with Coulson. Not a good thing for my objective, but... Maybe I'm ok with that. As long as I get it done of course, Yelena is still my priority.

Chapter Text

Agent Melinda May, 5am, The Bus:

I get downstairs to the gym to start Tai Chi. On the way, I hear a familiar set of footsteps moving about the plane

I’ll have to talk to him about that.

I get to the gym, only to have to stop in the doorway. Skye is up, apparently having been up for at least a little while. She is standing in the center of the gym, facing a punching bag, giving it a series of punches, elbows, knees, and kicks. That's not the thing that stops me. What stops me is she has hung a few sandbags around and set them in motion so she has to simultaneously dodge and/or strike them as they swing at her while going through this routine. I see other pieces of equipment around that she had clearly been at first, so whatever this training regimen is, it didn't start with this. As I was considering an approach, she hit the main punching bag with a left, left elbow, right, right elbow sequence, with the right punch happening simultaneously to a left kick at a sandbag coming at her. I silently kept watch for another minute or two, before she finished up, stopping the various swinging bags.

“Hope I didn't wake you up Agent May.”

“You didn't.”

She seems to notice the workout gear I’m wearing.

“Oh, sorry, I’ll clean up the gym so you-”

“Is this the training you did before?”

“Well, one of things we’d do, we- I’d alternate between this and a few other things, but there were some commonalities.”

I took note of the slip, but best to let her think she got it past me. 

“What else?”

“Well, there was firearms practice, grapple, various melee weapons, knife throwing and catching, though that got to the point it was mostly for fun and upkeep-”

Once again, mostly things that require more than one person, or sound like they do.

“Fun?”

“Yeah, back when my trainer was around, when I got to a point she felt I was close to  ready for it, she used to occasionally randomly throw knives at me, or other objects, and I’d catch and throw them back, or vice versa. It was good practice, and got to be kind of a banter? I don't know, it's hard to explain what it's like becoming friendly with, apparently a former Russian assassin, at least partially by throwing increasingly ridiculous and dangerous objects at each other. But it worked for us.”

That's… strange, isn't the kind of thing I figured a former widow would enjoy, but I only know one, so it's plausible it's a personality thing rather than a proper training one. Then again, the way Romanov and Barton acted maybe it isn't that far-fetched.

“Hmm.”

We lapsed back into quiet as she disassembled the improvised equipment, and then I got ready to do my morning Tai Chi. I’m not sure I trust her yet to ask, but some of these sound like they might be… interesting training methods. Could be good to spar with someone a little more equal. But not yet. She’s still clearly holding back on things. And as she exits the gym, I get to it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Agent Phil Coulson:

I’m leaning in a doorway, and see Skye talking animatedly with Fitz and Simmons while sitting on one of the tables. I hear May approach, and when she's in the doorway with me, I say

“She's fitting in nicely.”

“Gloating?” She responds

“A Little.”

“You were up early this morning. Heard you puttering around even before I started Tai Chi. Having trouble sleeping?”

“We weren't the only ones up from what I heard and saw. Heard someone doing some work in the gym well before your usual time. Then I saw Skye heading back up not long after your Tai Chi would’ve started. I take it she has resumed the training routine she claimed to be missing?”

“Yes, and I don't think she was exaggerating. Her morning workout ended with a series of sand bags swinging at her while she was swinging and kicking at a punching bag.”

“You sound surprised. I never thought I’d see the day you of all people think someone's morning workout is overdoing it.”

“All I do normally is Tai Chi, you know that Phil. Speaking of morning routines, what had you up so early? You still haven't answered if you had trouble sleeping.”

Damn. I was hoping I’d redirected the conversation. Should know better than to expect being able to do that to her by now.

“No, I feel great. Just have a little extra energy to burn.”

Darkness, and then feelings of peace, a Need to be somewhere, go somewhere, a Pull. Flashes of Tahiti, even less sensical flashes, like a crowded panic, followed by emptiness. 

My dreams, or nightmares, don't really make sense anymore. And I wake up feeling what I can only describe as Homesickness. Guess I miss wherever I was, even if I don't remember.

“If you want, I could lay out the mats downstairs. We could go a few rounds, like the old days?”

A contact request emergency alert goes off on the monitor, thankfully.

“Saved by the bell.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A girl in a flower dress, China:

I stand here watching a man, who had been like any other just a few years ago, and yet now heat and flame blooms from his hands. And he wastes it on common street tricks for tourists. And not even that anymore. To keep such a beautiful gift locked up, well, it's a travesty. Fire spreads, and in doing so casts its heat and light all through the forest. The smoke is just the remains of what needed to be burnt to get those wonderful things. Wouldn't you trade a dead bush and some grass for the miracle of flame? I know I would. And that is why I’m here. Mr. Chan has something we, well, they, want. If it were up to me I’d let him burn bright, but unfortunately he has a destiny as the fuel for greater flames. 

Currently, he’s giving an enjoyable bit of speech and theatrics around his slight of hand. It's truer than he knows. I’ve wanted to pierce my own shell for as long as I can remember. I can't wait to find out what I’ll become, it will be beautiful to finally be who I am meant to be.

He shows off his inner flame to those who doubted, making sure to display it to me first. My flirting works, as always. They're all so easy, but the game is interesting. 

I walk over to him after the show

“How did you do that?”

He replies “A magician never reveals his secrets.”

“Then I’ll have to pierce your shell and gaze within?”

“You understood. Chan Ho Yin.”

He sticks out his hand, which I shake.

“Raina. I would love to see that fire trick again.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Of course not. It’s a great idea.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We end up back at his apartment, he enters before me and says

“I’m sorry for the clutter. I’m in between places.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Six years.” He smiles “Beer?”

I’m looking around and I notice a couple of Houdini posters on his wall

“You seem to have an appreciation for the greats.”

He turns and looks where I’m looking.

“I idolized him for many years.”

“And now?”

“There’s no real magic there, just tricks.”

“You know, Houdini knew that, and proclaimed it at every show. I think he was disappointed it was just tricks. He was always looking for the real magic, he went to countless haunted houses, psychics, mediums, fortune tellers, and all sorts of others claiming to do magic. He never found any proof. He was taught about spirituality and magic by his Jewish parents and spent years trying to find it before he got fed up and railed against those who claimed to have that gift. But he always held out hope he’d find someone or something truly special, even asking his wife to hold seances for him after he died. Unfortunately his talents apparently lay in faking magic rather than finding it. However, I am lucky enough to have the opposite true it seems. Your trick with the fire wasn't a trick, was it?”

He smiles, I can tell he wants to show me, but is still reticent.

“I really shouldn't.”

“Why? What are you afraid of?”

“It’s who.”

“Well, I don't see anyone else here, do you?”

“I suppose not.”

He reaches his hand out, palm up, and a flame whirls to life out of it, twisting light and heat radiating from the palm of his hand, and it moves as his hand does, like shifting a candle and the flame following after.

I suppose I should react appropriately

I gasp, and say “That can’t be real.” though I don't need to fake the smile that comes to my lips as I say it.

“See for yourself”

I reach out, and touch the barest edge of the flame, and I can feel the heat turn to burn. I must get some initial information before he turns hostile, and then I have to work back into his good graces

“How long have you been able to –?” 

“First time was a few years ago. A dish towel caught fire in my hands. I almost burned down my entire apartment.” He says, chuckling lightly

“And it doesn’t hurt?”

“Not even a little.”

An excellent sign for the project

He closes his fist and the flame is extinguished.

“You have a gift. I’ve never seen anything like it. Why not show the world?” 

Best to start leading him to the right perspective now

“I ask that same question every day. There are people who… 

Never mind. It’s just – for years I did illusions, tricks, like the rest. And then this happened. It’s real – real magic. If I believed in such things, I would say it was a miracle, that this happened for a reason.”

“I believe you’ve been chosen.”

“You do?”

I step closer to him, and say

“Close your eyes.” Letting him infer my intentions. As he does, I make sure to subtly activate the signal I’ve got with me.

“And I’ll show you.”

I wait a moment as the special troops in fireproof suits that were waiting outside file in shockingly quietly, ready to capture him. I suppose all that training counts for something.

“That’ll do.”

Chan tries to run, but Centipede’s men follow him. A fight breaks out and he manages to stab one with scissors before getting knocked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Agent Phil Coulson:

“Chan Ho Yin. Just a struggling street performer until a few years ago, when Mr. Chan began to exhibit moderate pyrokinetic abilities.”

“So what gave him powers?” Fitz asks. 

*It's a good question, even though it’s not relevant at the moment.

“It’s still under investigation, but Chan did live near the decommissioned Wan Tai Nuclear Plant when it caught fire. To our knowledge, no other nearby residents have exhibited similar traits.” I reply

“So how did we find out about him?” Simmons asks

May replies “Informants saw him lighting torches in a street show, with his pinkie.”

Ward nods “That’ll do it.”

I take a second to get us back on track “The informants brought it to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s attention. We told him to keep his abilities under wraps. He’s been on The Index ever since.”

Skye speaks up “The Index?”

“It’s a list S.H.I..E.L.D. keeps of people and objects with powers.” Says Simmons 

“Wait! What? How many are there? Are you saying there are more people than just the Avengers –?”

May is already shaking her head. “Not many.”

“Well, enough to keep a list.”

I chime in “A short list, meant to protect them.” 

“Though in rare cases S.H.I.E..L.D. has had to take action.” Ward adds, not helpfully

“Action against objects or people?”

The looks Skye gets back tells her what she needs to know it seems. 

“Well that’s drastic with a side of creepy. How are they monitored? Tapped phone lines, satellite surveillance, body probes in dark, unpleasant places?” 

I hope she's not asking, thinking we're doing that, but to be honest, I do still want to index her, even if she's earned some trust by now. There's something in the back of my mind still saying she's holding back.

Fitz speaks back up “Body probes? Now, that’s ridiculous. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t do that…

We don’t do that, do we?”

I have to keep my face still. How we treat people on the Index is something I’ve always been a little skeptical of, but S.H.I.E.L.D. has good reasons for the precautions and monitoring. And we do need it, I’ve seen the proof of that time and time again over the years.

“The methods vary.”

Skye gives me an, “are you kidding me” look, and I get why.

I continue back on topic “Mr. Chan was low risk. He was assigned a case agent who checked in with him every few days. That’s how we discovered him missing.”

May says something to Agent Quan, who’s onscreen, and he replies. 

I really need to get on learning more languages than English and vacation Spanish.

“Everyone, this is Agent Quan, Chan Ho Yin’s case agent.” May says

FitzSimmons and Skye wave.

“What can you tell us?” May asks

“Not much, I’m afraid. Chan is a magician, so at first I thought he’d made himself disappeared.”

Ha, I forgot Agent Quan is funny.

“The file says you’d caught him violating his Index Agreement before.”

“On two separate occasions. Claimed we were “hampering his artistic expression”. But last night, he was taken by professionals. The only thing they left behind was this scrap of aluminized material.”

“Fireproof clothing.” says Simmons

“So, whoever took him knew about his power.” Adds Ward

Agent Quan continues “Yes, and we think we know why. Over the last few days tech division discovered a crack into our data stream. It’s the same cyber punks who hacked us before. Somehow, they got in again. It’s the Rising Tide.”

I really hope that doesn't mean what I think it means.

I, and everyone else look at Skye, while Quan seems confused over the call

“Hello?... It got real quiet… You guys still there?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ward and Skye are in my office, Ward is standing on the side, looking a strange mix of unhappy and smug, while Skye is pacing back and forth in front of my desk. 

*I don't really know what to think. My gut has been saying she's trustworthy, despite it also saying she’s hiding something else, and May agreed. But she could still be a Widow, playing us, or even just a luckily-trained hacker. Either way, the easiest place for a hack to come from is inside, even I know that.

“The Rising Tide is a huge organization of hacktivists from all around the world. Any of them could have done this. It wasn’t me.” Skye says

“No one’s saying it was.” Ward adds, but he absolutely means it on a technicality.

“But you’re thinking it. I can see your faces thinking it.” She isn't wrong.

“We’re assessing the situation.” I tell her

“Then I’m sure you’re taking into account that I have been living on a plane with you this whole time. It would be impossible for me to hack S.H.I.E.L.D. without you knowing.”

“Or easier. We’re gonna need more than that.”

“Fine. Let me trace the hack and I’ll prove it.”

Ward looks unsure, so I speak before he can interrupt. “Agent Ward, please leave for a moment, I’d like to speak to Skye alone.”

“But sir! She-”

“That's an order, Agent Ward.”

“Yes sir.” And he leaves. 

Good, so I can speak freely after a moment to be sure he's not in hearing range.

“I’m still not sure if we should trust you. You’ve helped, and integrated with the team well. But you're still hiding something, and-” *and this is the part I break May’s rules, she’ll be pissed, but it feels right

“-I still don't know whether or not you're a Widow, infiltrating the team for some purpose.”

She looks startled. Oh, barely, she's good, but I worked with Natasha and May much too long not to be able to pick up on someone not quite as good at lying as them, though she is still very good. She quickly settles her face, but it’s too late. That glimpse of expression told me everything.

“I mean, I’ve never been married, so no, I’m not a widow. Not sure what that has to do with this though, unless you think I had a secret spouse I didn't tell you about and managed to delete the marriage license for? I mean, I could, technically-”

“That's not what I meant and you know it.”

She pauses mid sarcastic comeback, and I continue.

“Don't get me wrong, you've done extremely well, not using the word “Widow” and avoiding discussing anything about your trainer. But whether or not you are a Widow or were just trained by one, you know much more than you’ve let on.”

Her face drops from the confused and fearfully chastened bubbly it was to a much more neutral, guilty look. 

So that's an actual expression of hers. Good to know.

“How?”

“Did we figure you out, you mean? Honestly, gut feeling and logic. You played it near perfectly.  But both May and I have been SO to a Widow before. And we recognized the techniques, the approach to fighting, the attitude about it. All dead-on for a Widow. Not to mention, there's no reason a current Widow would train you. So either you are one, or your trainer is a former one. If the latter, there's almost no way you just “Happened upon” a former Widow willing to train you. And even if you did, well, you don't train with someone “every day, for years”, as you put it, without learning at least a little about them. So which is it?”

She visibly tenses and then deflates.

“Fine, yes, I lied a little. I knew exactly who she was. I tracked her down, I’m not exactly lacking in the digital tracking skills department, and we made an exchange. She’d train me, and I’d erase her so the Red Room would never find her, so no one would ever find her. We started training, and she grew to like me, so we kept at it, even after I deleted her records.”

“Why lie about that?”

“Because I thought you'd make me track her down. You still might.”

“Why is that so wrong? Black Widow is doing very well at S.H.I.E.L.D., surely she’d like the opportunity to be legitimate, to have status, a legal citizenship, a place to live?”

“I’ve read your files. Natalsha was picked up by your organization right after she got out and immediately agreed to work with you when she was 20. How would a former Widow who decided to keep doing freelance mercenary work, to travel, to hide, because it's all she knew, fare? I bet you’d stick her in a box and interrogate her about the Red Room, then jail her for not working with you initially, and even if not, make her work for you. So no, I’m not going to find her for you.” 

Two Very interesting things to note from that rant. 1. Skye knows of Black Widow as her Russian name, and how old she was when recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D.. She slipped up for a second. 2. I’m getting the sense that if Skye is a Widow, she's a former one. If not, she’s protecting one, she's basically said as much. Which means she cares about this person or owes them, if they exist. 

“I wasn't planning on asking you to do that.”

yet

“I want to be able to trust you, but when things like this, both your lying, and the Rising Tide hack, happen, I just don't know if I can. Can you blame me?”

“No, I can't.” She looks almost sad about it

“So help me, find something that proves it wasn't you, dig up something, and fast. The longer Mr. Chan’s missing the more danger he’s in.”

“I might have an idea of who did the hack.”

“Mind sharing with the class?”

“Alright, but we should probably get Fitz, at the least, he’d be able to back up what I’m saying.”

“Alright, let's gather the team together.”

She begins to walk out, but as she does, I say

“And Skye,”

She pauses at the door

“Don’t give me another reason not to trust you, I want to. Tell me the truth in the future.”

She walks out the door to my office without answering, but I see the slump of her shoulders as she does. 

Hopefully, I can get the full story from her one of these days. In the meantime, better gather the team.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Raina:

It wouldn't do for me to appear at all ruffled when meeting Chan again, but I can’t help but feel mildly uncomfortable with the idea of stripping someone of their gifts. Oh, I’ve been assured by Dr. Hynes that his platelets will regenerate over time and he’ll be better than ever and a valuable asset. But I know that woman is not the best planner, or understander of people, human or more. It is highly likely Chan will be used up for this, if it even works. Which, the Clairvoyant has assured it will. And who am I to question someone so gifted? Well, I'd best begin friendly, and slowly allow in the proposal. He’ll be unhappy after getting taken, as nice as this room may be.

I walk into his room, and knock on the screen

“Good morning, Chan.”

He scrambles off the bed alarmed, but relaxes a little when he notices me

He says “What the hell?”

“I apologize for last night. It was important I bring you in under the radar.” I say

“Oh, S.H.I.E.L.D.! Tell Agent Quan I don’t need to be read the Power Protocols again. It was just a street performance, it’s not like I set anyone on fire.”

“I don’t work for S.H.I.E.L.D., I come as a friend.”

“English isn’t my first language, but that word means something different than you think.”

“I understand your frustration, but I believe you have a gift. And, if you let me, I’d like to help you nurture it. I can increase it. You’ll get people’s attention then.”

“Increase my power? Why? What’s the catch?”

Many, but at least he realizes there’ll likely would be one

“We’d like to run some tests.”

“There it is. Now, will you let me go, or must I fight my way out?”

“Leave now and I’ll forget you, I promise. But, so will everyone else. Stay and you can be remembered, known the world over.”

“You want to make Chan Ho Yin a famous name?”

“No. You need a simpler name. A – a more powerful name. A name like…Scorch.”

“Scorch? Are you joking?”

No, though I do think it's amusing, if sad. Scorch feels like it fits him though.

“Have you ever heard of Steve Rogers? No. But Captain America, now, he’s on the news, and on lunchboxes, and on a poster on the wall.”

“I don’t want to be a superhero.”

“You want to be recognized for your gift. And who is more recognizable than them?”

“I was given this power for a reason. I just want people to see what I can do.”

“They will. All I want is what you want. For you to be remembered. To be seen for what you’re meant to be…a star.”

“Scorch. It’s growing on me.”

I thought it might.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Agent Coulson:

Skye and Fitz are standing next to each other in front of the holographic touch table screen, intel on the apparent Rising Tide hacker that leaked the information to whoever kidnapped Chan Ho Yin displayed, with the rest of the team arrayed around the other side, myself in the center.

“So, just to confirm Fitz, Skye proved to you that this “Miles Lydon” was the one that released the data?”

“Yes sir, she managed to-”

I interrupt him before he goes off in a technical tangent I won't understand 

“Good, so Skye, any idea where he is or could be? Or how to find our missing magician?”

“Miles used to hang out in Austin, Texas, last I heard he was still there. I’d offer to assist in getting information about this from him, but I’d rather not reveal I’m working with you to the Rising Tide yet, best keep them as contacts.” She says

“I don't disagree, yet. But we might need to bring you in if he fails to cooperate otherwise. Mr. Chan is in danger, and we don't know where he went, who has him, or what they might be doing with him.”

“I can probably talk to my other contacts in Rising Tide to find out who he’s been in contact with recently, it might get us who took Chan Ho Yin.”

“Do that, otherwise, we’ll have to see if he’ll talk to you.”

Skye opens her laptop back up, while the rest of the team splits off to prepare for whatever we might need to go on a rescue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Raina:

I’ve been guiding Chan through our Centipede laboratory, and some carefully worded basics of the testing phase of the serum on him.

 “What is this big place, Raina? And who are these guys?”

“They'll assist you with anything you need.”

Best to be semihonest with him, keep the wonder and excitement up while we do the tests. 

“We're here to monitor your vitals while we observe your powers. And it's big because we'll need the space.”

One of the lab techs fills up a syringe with the elixir Doctor Hynes has helped to this stage.

“This serum strengthens the cytoskeleton within each cell of your body. One dose, and you'll feel incredible ... until it wears off.”

Chan finally speaks up and asks “And it will wear off?”

“Yes. But the effects in average subjects have been impressive. In you, I'm excited to see.”  

He turns to the man injecting him 

“What do you think of the name "Scorch"?”

Before gasping in pain as the serum courses through him. I need to make sure he is calm, and his body can have a chance to acclimate.

“Breathe. Feel it? Now let's see what you can do.”

He opens his hand and the swirl of flame he summons is much bigger than it had been last time I saw him try this. Good.

“Whoa.”

He plays with the fire and even throws it at someone in the distance.

“Oh, sorry! You almost got Scorched. This is incredible. Whoo! You are a beautiful angel, you know that?” He says, turning to me, his eyes full of thanks and excitement.

However, as he does, alarms start to blare around us, and the lights flash.

One of the soldiers yells “S.H.I.E.L.D.’s here!”

Well, I suppose this wasn't going to last. I’d better get the essentials out of here

I turn to Chan, but Dr. Hynes is already next to him and speaking 

“Alright, I wanted to wait till we had evaluated everything, but we need to extract now!”

And she gestures at a soldier, and thrusts a syringe at Chan, only for him to burst a short wall of fire between them and ask

“What do you mean?”

The doctor, being an anger-prone socially inept scientist panicking, says 

“We need your platelets to stabilize the serum, it's for the best, we need them, more than you do.” 

And tries to get him again, and fails, with Chan angrily turning to me

“Raina, did you know about this? They were just going to use me, you were! How could-”

Best to interrupt now, this project seems like it's about to be a lost cause, best keep the gifted man on my side so at least he can be of use. Plus, to be honest, I was never a big fan of this project.

“I had no idea!” I turn to Dr. Hynes, with my best innocent and betrayed expression “How could you do this?! I thought we were going to help Chan, or should I say, Scorch, use his gifts!”

She looks at me, confused and angry

“Raina I-”

He interrupts

“No! No more of your lies! Raina, get out of here! Before S.H.I.E.L.D. gets here.”

“But, what about you? I want you to be safe, come with me!”

*Maybe I can convince him, salvage this all if I can get him to-

“No, I know you probably feel betrayed by these Scientists trying to use gifts for the wrong, but be safe. I will deal with them.”

Well, best be off. Hopefully someone useful escapes, Ideally Chan, and maybe some of the scientists.

“Thank you Scorch, stay safe.”

I turn and leave towards the secret elevator, subtly pocketing a couple vials of the serum on my way out. As I exit the room, I hear Dr. Hynes’s protests turn to screams, and the sound of flames.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Agent Coulson:

I’m standing in front of Agent Quan’s team and mine in the Hong Kong office, pacing back and forth. We still smell of smoke.  

“Please tell me we got Something from this disaster.”

Fitz speaks up,

“Just like the last Centipede lab, we managed to recover a view, this time easily from the security footage, of what happened. After I pieced the storage back together, Skye and I-”

“Fitz, Skye, what do you find?”

Skye replies

“It looks like they had gotten, at least somewhat willingly at first, Chan Ho Yin, to join them for some sort of testing and measurement. They injected him with a syringe of what looked like Centipede serum, right when we arrived. It seemed to increase his… firey control abilities,”

Fitz interjects “Pyrokinesis. It scaled his pyrokinetic control and power up sir.”

“Yeah, that. And then when we set off their alarm, the head scientist, Doctor Deborah Hynes, who we IDed from dental records, she was actually the woman saved by Mike Peterson from the last Centipede lab, tried to inject him with something or withdraw something, it was hard to tell without audio. Anyway, she did that, and that pissed Chan off. He sent the girl in the flower dress who had been showing him around to leave, and then burned the upper floors of the lab to a crisp before escaping.”

“Great. So we let an even more enhanced pyrokinetic street magician with a need to show off escape, as well as a mysterious woman high enough up the totem pole in Centipede to be showing him around all the labs. Any other good news?”

“Well, Miles has yet to be contacted by Centipede again, but I do have his usual channels of contact monitored for the future, so hopefully we’ll get something out of that.”

“Anything else?” I ask, frustration peaking through a bit

Simmons speaks up now, reluctantly

“Well sir, we can't seem to identify most of the other bodies, even the teeth are too cracked and damaged to properly note. Also, this mystery woman took at least 2 of the vials of their serum from the lab, possibly more, on her way out. And their medical records were stored on the top floor, which we couldn't even get to till the fire was put out and were completely burnt. And Skye says the lab computer’s data was unrecoverable.”

Agent Quan starts speaking 

“We did manage to capture a number of Centipede’s unenhanced soldiers, who are being transported back for questioning. Also some information about Centipede’s contacts. Based on Agent Skye’s suggestion, we checked the ground floor mail room, and now have several companies and names to look into in regards to Centipede based on mail and packages received and ready to be sent out.”

“Alright, that's something. We managed to take down a Centipede lab today, even if we didn't end the organization, we hurt them. Overall, a successful mission. Now lets get ready and back on the Bus, plan out next moves. Thank you for the assistance Agent Quan.” I try and rally, make it seem like more of a success than it feels like.

“Anytime Agent Coulson. I wouldn't want to burn any bridges with you.”

He really is a jokester. Glad someone got a laugh out of this mess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Raina:

S.H.I.E.L.D. is really starting to get in the way. I suppose after the lab burned down, it’s time to report, but I’m sure the Clairvoyant already knows. It’s only a matter of time till his plans come together and I can get the gifts I’m destined to receive, and S.H.I.E.L.D. gets what’s coming to them. As long as I stay with them, I don't have to go back to Him, and tell him I still haven't found anything, any trace, of his daughter. He’d do a lot worse than just kill me.