Her Story
AN- So I'm blasting out this story to aid the Souls Saga that I'm writing because Skye's past is becoming very relevant now and I figured why not set the rules for my Souls universe now. Some things are in cannon with the show and other details may not be but I figure why not make it up as I go along.
Prologue
Agent Avery ran along the streets, hoping that she would find the name of her destination above a door or on a gate. 'St Agness' she repeated to herself, 'St Agness' she had to find it before they caught up to her. SHIELD would make it look like a tragic accident outside of the gates but if the men she was running from got to her first then the little baby in her arms wouldn't be safe. She had no idea who they were, only that they had massacred hundreds of people to find the girl that she now carried. Her partner had said his goodbyes when their plane touched down in the US, he said that he'd try to stay alive and draw them after him. For all she knew he was dead and she was the only person left from that mission.
SHIELD orders stated that she had to drop off the baby girl at St Agness before the bullet wound in her side killed her. Of course SHIELD hadn't shot her; some band of mercenaries had followed her to the plane and had gotten a lucky shot. In fact they'd gotten five, one for the heads of the back-up unit and one for her side. The bullets meant, of course, for the little girl, not them. She just had to make it to St Agness where they would keep the little girl safe. She had to be safe.
'St Agness!' She almost yelled. There it was at the end of the street; a large brick house, a perfectly green lawn and a white stone fence. She was glad that the little baby would grow up there, a welcoming house and, hopefully, welcoming people. She wouldn't be able to stay there for more than a few years before she would be moved around every four months, sometimes to different orphanages, and sometimes to the families of SHIELD agents who knew the importance of keeping the little girl mobile.
Agent Avery barely managed to make it to the gates before she fell to the ground, the baby still sleeping in her arms. Two nuns came out of the front door and saw her on the ground. Agent Avery knew that this was the end for her; that she had to die knowing the secret about the girl's parents. She didn't tell SHIELD and she wouldn't tell the nuns, the girls parents were monsters with powers beyond her comprehension. She just had to hope that the girl didn't grow up feeling the same hatred that her parents did.
"Take her, keep her safe." Agent Avery spoke hoarsely to the nuns. "This envelope has all of the information you need in it, all of the information she will need." She handed them a large, full, manila envelope while she still had the strength. "Watch the tapes; give them to her when she's old enough to understand."
The nuns nodded in agreement, one holding the envelope the other holding the child. They kept muttering something about a hospital and an ambulance.
"I was dead the second my plane touched the ground. Keep her alive, she's all that matters." Agent Avery spoke before closing her eyes and taking shuddering breaths. "Go." She breathed, using the last of her strength. "Go."
Chapter 1
Chloe POV
I surprisingly don't wake up to the usual sound of the nuns ringing the bell, this time I'm being shaken awake by the nicest of them. "Sister Helena?" I ask, hoping that she understands my sleepy question. What is she doing here?
"Dress quietly child and come down to the lunch room, Mother Rosa wishes to show you something." The kind woman helps me sit up and then moves to leave the room.
"Sister, what does she want to show me?" I ask in a whisper.
"Quiet, Chloe. Come down when you're ready." She breathes, closing the door with the faintest thud. I sigh, why wouldn't she just tell me what I'm doing up at… I check the clock next to my bed and it says 6:01. Six in the morning? What was going on in this place?
Still I pull open the small set of drawers by my bed and pull out a pair of trousers, a button up shirt and my only warm jumper. I do have other jumpers but this one keeps me the warmest. With it being so close to Christmas my jumper has a large red reindeer on the front that doesn't look all that bad next to the green. I pull on my indoor shoes, a pair of fleecy boots, and leave the room, trying my hardest not to wake up the other girls.
I tiptoe down the stairs, artfully avoiding the ones that creek, and dart into the lunch room where Sister Helena and Mother Rosa are waiting with what looks like a computer. Most of the nuns don't know this but I had been given a laptop by one of the families I stayed with. They seemed like they were going to adopt me but I got into a fight with one of their kids and my bags were packed, the laptop being in the bottom. The only two who knew were the two nuns stood in front of me.
"Chloe." Mother Rosa says to me in an overly warm voice, she pulls me into a hug which I return. "We have something to show you." Mother Rosa leads me to the chair in front of the computer and I immediately sit down. "The woman who left you at the Orphanage 16 years ago left you a message. We think that you're old enough now to hear what she said."
Mother Rosa presses play on the screen and I watch a woman's face blink into existence.
"Hello Chloe, my name is Agent Linda Avery." I immediately love the sound of the woman's warm voice. "I am not your mother and you shouldn't try to look for me because I will already be dead. The nuns at the orphanage should be showing this to you once you turn seventeen, because now you can try to search for your answers.
"I work with an organization called SHIELD and hopefully you haven't heard of them yet." The woman closes her eyes for a moment before continuing her story. "SHIELD made a system where the St Agness orphanage would have you moved as often as they could around different SHIELD Agent's homes until you were ready to hear this. The nuns at your orphanage should have a file with all of the information you will need to start searching for SHIELD, they will have your answers."
The video shut off and all I feel is anger. Anger for the woman who hid me, anger toward this SHIELD who took any chance of a family away from me and anger for the two nuns stood behind me, for lying to me and for allowing me to believe that I could have a family. I turn to see the look on Sister Helena's face, she is crying. I can forgive her; she always showed me love and care while nobody else did. Mother Rosa on the other hand knew and she made my life harder to live. She was never nice and this must be why.
"Chloe, you can either stay, look for them once you finish school, or you can leave and start looking now. While we don't want you to go, we won't stop you." Mother Rosa speaks almost emotionlessly. All of the fake care drained from her voice.
I don't need to be told twice. I run from the lunch hall and back up to my room to pack, taking the envelope next to the computer with me. This time I don't care who I interrupt, I wrench open the door and run to my drawers. I pull the black duffel bag out from under my bed and I throw in the few items of clothing I own. I carefully place the laptop in the top of my bag. I can wipe it and sell it to a pawn shop, the same with the bike I have hidden two blocks away.
I stand up to leave only to see Lindsay, the youngest girl I share a room with, stood at the end of my bed, looking at me with pleading eyes. "Why are you leaving?" She asks in the typical seven year old voice that makes it almost impossible to resist.
"I have to go find my parents, Lil." I explain as nicely as I can, the anger still running through my veins. "I promise I'll come back to visit." I smile to her and pull out the small package I hid under my bed. "Save this for Christmas okay?" I ask her, handing her the badly wrapped present.
"Okay, Chloe." She smiles to me; she puts her arms around my neck and kisses my cheek. "See you soon." She smiles, walking back to her bed.
"See you soon." I lie through my teeth. I'm never coming back here but she doesn't have to know that. She doesn't know what happened to me so she doesn't need to hear any ultimatums. When I get to the front door I pull out the blue plastic box that has my name on it. Inside are some shoes and the bag that I use to hide as much cash in as possible. They fill up the last of the space in my bag. I remove my indoor shoes and replace them with a pair of leather boots. I leave them and a note in the box and scribble over the name Skye and write Lindsay underneath it. On the coat rack hangs my leather jacket and scarf which I quickly pull on.
I hastily leave the orphanage and head for the place where I hid my bike. Inside of my jacket pocket is my purse and the keys to my bike. As I walk I pull out my purse and count the cash I have tucked inside of it. Ninety three dollars and fifty cents, I quickly add to that the balance of my emergency credit card, four hundred and forty-one dollars. I get to my bike and pull the tarp off of it; I sit down on it and count the cash I have hidden on my small blue bag. In total I have over a thousand dollars, not including my bike and my laptop. If I sell them I can get one thousand five hundred at the most so I can get a van and some fuel, maybe food for a few weeks.
I decide to drive to the nearest ATM and withdraw the money in my account before the nuns can close it down. I have an hour to get there so I keep to the limit as I drive, attracting as little attention as possible. I get to the nearest ATM and withdraw the last of the money in it, stuffing it into my blue bag with the rest. Where to next Chloe? The pawn shop in the centre of the city will be open in twenty minutes so I could head there and sell my laptop or I could head to the dealer first and trade in my bike for a van. It's decided, I head for the dealer as quickly as I can and am pleased to see that it is open. I pull into the parking lot outside and head into the store to see Dave, the man who I got the bike from.
"Ah, back again Chloe. What can I do for you? Need any other parts for that lovely bike of yours?" He smiles to me, his hair is still in it pompous quif and he still tries to dress like an accountant. This time in a waistcoat though so it's a refreshing change. It's his lucky day though; he's wanted to buy the bike back from me since I fixed the piece of junk he sold me.
"Actually, I want to know how much you want for it. I figure you could take the price off of one of your vans." I smile weakly.
His face bursts into the widest smile he's ever flashed me. "You aren't joking are you, you're actually serious?" His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and he ran over to me and pulled me into a huge hug. "You are an amazing girl you know that? Shall we go look at the vans?" He offers, leading me round the back.
"I'm going to need one with plenty of space, maybe a couple of shelves. I'm planning on living in it while I go on a tour of America." I lie, surprised of how quickly I came up with the idea of a road trip.
"Okay, are you going for comfort or heavy duty?" He asks with a smile on his face.
"Heavy duty, I hear the roads in Texas are brutal." I smile to him. We walk over to the large selection of vans while I contemplate what I actually am willing to spend on one of these things.
"We've got the business grade ones here, figure these are more your style." Dave shows me maybe ten vans that are in the furthest corner of the lot. "What's your budget? Some of these will need fixing up."
"I've got eight hundred, not including the value of the bike." I smile. "How much are you willing to pay for it?" I ask.
"At least one thousand, it is a beautiful machine. I have no idea how you did it." He is still buzzing with excitement over my bike.
I look over the vans in front of me and my eyes are drawn to the blue one in the corner. Seven hundred, needs light work, shouldn't be too much of a task. "I have a proposition for you. I'll take the blue van in the corner and the parts I need to fix it and you've got yourself a beautiful Ducati."
"Done." He didn't hesitate to take my offer, he shakes my hand and we head back inside. "I'll have Mark put all of the parts you need in the van and he'll bring it round. The parts are only worth two hundred at the most so I still owe you three hundred."
I raise an eyebrow in shock. Twelve hundred for a machine he was desperate to get rid of a year ago. I don't question it though, I'll need as much money as I can get. "Any paperwork to fill out?" I ask, knowing that last time he had me fill out what felt like twenty forms.
"Just these two. One for the transaction and the other for the tax. I can hand in the tax money along with that of the other sales I make today." He passes me two pieces of paper. "You know the drill right?" He asks knowingly. "Sign here, here and here. Initials here and all of that crap." He always made it a joke when it came to me. He probably thought he was being funny. "Your license covers vans right?"
"Yeah, I've been driving them for St Agness since I got the thing." I smile to him and he pulls a face like he should have known.
"I also forgot to mention that one has a load of tools in the back. I can have them removed for you." He starts.
"Don't worry about it; I'll need them to fix up the van anyway." I smile to him, having finished the paperwork. He hands me the three hundred dollars and keys in exchange for the paperwork and keys to my bike, which I hand over slightly reluctantly.
"It's been nice doing business with you again Chloe." He smiles to me. "I hope we can do this again soon. And happy holidays."
Dave smiles to me and waves slightly as I pull out of the parking lot and onto the road. I got three times as much as I expected for the bike but I know I need to sell the laptop. I need to get rid of it. It was given to me by some SHIELD Agent who was planning to get rid of me, it's probably being monitored. I effortlessly drive down to the pawn shop and pull up in front of the store.
As I walk in I make note of all of the odd things that line the walls, swords, masks, old rusty signs. I walk up to the man on the desk carrying my freshly wiped laptop.
"What can we do for you miss?" A large man with a strong southern accent asks me.
"Just looking to sell my laptop." I force myself to smile. I place it onto the surface in front of him. "It's all been wiped and it's in good condition."
The man grunts slightly and looks over it for ten minutes before looking back up at me. "I'll give you two hundred for it." He speaks, not really caring for the item.
"Sounds good." I say less enthusiastically than before. The man opens the cash register and hands me a stack of twenty dollar bills. "Thanks." I speak cautiously before I leave the store. The guy was way too odd; at least I got something for it.
I pull open the driver side door and head to the diner on forty ninth street, the alley there should be enough cover for me to work on the van. As I head down I make a mental note of how much I managed to get today, fifteen hundred dollars or there about. Not too bad going. I pull up at the stop light and glance down at the dash board. Full gas, barely any miles. I got a decent deal from Dave considering the usual junk he sells.
I pull into the alley behind the diner and get to work on the van. As soon as I finish I'll need to get out of LA and find Miles. I'd met him a few years ago, he showed me how to hack a computer and rewrite the programs. I'd done the same thing to my phone so that I could always have something to use if the nuns took away my laptop. I quickly pull out my phone and send him a message. 'Need your help. I'm heading to Seattle. See you there?' I send the message and finish work on my new van. I took some of the scrap metal from the back to make some cupboards to keep supplies in. I didn't particularly want them to roll around the back every time I made a turn. I also managed to wire a microwave that I bought from some guy's garage sale an hour ago.
I drive down to the nearest Wal-Mart and hope to find some cheap bedding to fit into the space I made behind the driver's seat. I stock up on tinned food and get the bedding I need only to see Miles walking around the store asking people if they'd 'seen Chloe at all'. When he spots me he walks over and gives me a hug.
"Please tell me you don't need my help moving boxes?" He asks sighing when he sees what I have in the cart.
"No, I need your help finding someone. I need a hacker friend." I tell him, making sure that nobody else hears me.
"Well, you've come to the right guy." He smiles before taking over pushing the cart. "Let's get this stuff to your place and then we can start."
"My place is a van that I can park in the back alley behind an internet diner." I tell him. "Figured nobody would look there for someone trying to hack SHIELD."
In stead of being shocked he looks down at me approvingly. "I know some people who would love to meet you. We can head up to Queens in a few days to see some friends of mine."
"I sold my laptop." I tell him.
"Then we can go and get my old one back from a guy." He shrugs.
"You gave someone your laptop?" I ask shocked, Miles isn't usually the guy to do something like that.
"No way." He laughs. "I lost it in a bet. Think you can win it back."
"Without a doubt." I smile to him, paying for the items we'd just bought. Miles pushes the cart behind me as I lead him over to my van. I pull the back open and place my purchases inside. "Think you can drive us to forty ninth?" I ask him, knowing how he'll react.
"Have you lost that much faith in me Chloe?" He asks in fake shock. He takes the keys from my hand and jumps into the front. I pull the door closed behind me and I get to work in the back. "You're brave." He smiles before pulling out of the lot.
I secure everything within a few minutes and climb over to sit next to Miles. We sit like that until we pull into a motel. "Why are we here?" I ask him, wondering why we aren't at the diner.
"Relax Chloe, I'm just grabbing a few things from my room." He jumps out of the van. "Do you want me to bring my van as well?" He asks, clearly not wanting to leave anything behind.
"Do what you think is best. You're more used to this kind of life than I am." I speak as nonchalantly as possible.
"I don't know whether I should feel offended." He pretends to gasp. "You can raid my van for anything we might need and I'll go get my stuff." He throws the keys to me and walks into the motel.
