When Skye met Nick

Coulson was furious. Skye hacked a Level 8 server. Sure she did it, because she wanted to know if her team mates and friends were alright. But still. She broke the rules again. This time under his watch. If anyone would find out about this she would be asked to leave S.H.I.E.L.D or worse, be detained. He needed to be mad at her, he wanted to be mad. But she acted on instinct. She ignored protocol, she ignored the rules, because her gut screamed at her that her friends were in danger. And she was right. There was no extraction plan. He knew sometimes a mission of this importance might end, well… not so good for the troops. Or part of the troops. But he would have suspected that Victoria Hand had at least the decency to tell him. After all he was Level 8. He was their team leader. He should have known. Hell, they should have known going in. But S.H.I.E.L.D. kept that little detail from him. He was still upset with Skye. He would have to talk to her later. Seriously talk. But for now he needed to have a word with another woman. Agent Hand. And she needed to explain why she kept that little detail secret from him.

Skye watched Coulson walk away. She could tell by the way he walked that he was furious. She hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. Again. But she had to. Ward and Fitz were in South Ossetia, all alone on a mission to disable a very powerful and dangerous device and there was no extraction plan. Basically, S.H.I.E.L.D. send them in to die. She was angry. Very angry.

"So, you are the hacker. I told Coulson you were a risk. And I was right."

Skye turned around when she heard an unfamiliar male voice. A tall black man, bald and an eye patch over his left eye, black leather pants and a long, black leather coat made the man look creepy and scary and so not S.H.I.E.L.D-like. Skye wondered for a moment who he was. Until she remembered one of her talks with Coulson.

"Are you Fury?" she asked.

"It's Director Fury, for you young lady" he said in a serious tone.

Skye swallowed hard. Wow. Ok. The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D himself standing before her. Skye wondered if he knew that she just hacked a Level 8 server. Probably. According to Coulson that man knew everything about everybody. She swallowed again.

"Nice to meet you, sir" she tried to be friendly and polite, although Fury scared the crap out of her. He was staring at her and she felt like under a microscope.

"Follow me" he just said and turned to walk towards the elevator. When he saw that she hasn't moved he turned around. "Didn't you hear me? I said follow me. Now, kid." There was no way she could argue. She sprinted from where she stood and reached the man in no time. She followed him into the elevator in complete silence. Fury pushed a button and the elevator started moving. Skye wanted to ask where they were going but decided otherwise. She actually didn't want to know. A couple of minutes later, which seemed like forever to Skye, they reached the desired floor and Fury stepped out followed closely by Skye. After a short walk through a well lit corridor they reached a door. Fury ran his thumb over the access panel and the door opened. He entered and motioned Skye to follow. As soon as she was inside the door closed. Skye thought she was dreaming. On the couch, in the middle of the room was none other than Captain America, Steve Rogers and next to him was a beautiful red-head, who was probably Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. the Black Widow. She knew about her from Coulson and she saw a few pictures in the papers right after the Battle of New York.

"Sit down" Fury asked her, motioning to the seat next to him and opposite to the couch. Skye complied. "Rogers, Romanoff, this is Skye. Skye these are Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff."

"Oh my God! I know who they are. It's such an honor to meet you both. I'm a big fan" Skye stood up and closed the short distance between her and the two Avengers, shaking their hands. "This is so cool. I always wanted to meet you guys. Couls… I mean my boss always talks about you. About both of you. "

"Is he still pissed, because he lost his vintage trade card collection?" a man's voice asked, but Skye couldn't see anybody. When she looked all confused Natasha just waved her hand and a man from behind her, that was hiding in a very dark corner emerged. Skye recognized him immediately. It was Agent Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye. How cool was that? Three Avengers.

"Agent Barton, it is an honor, sir." Skye approached the man trying to shake his hand. He held his hand back.

"I will only shake your hand if you loose the sir, deal?" He smiled.

"Deal." They shook hands and were interrupted when Fury cleared his throat.

"Skye, sit down." She complied. "You too, Barton."

"So, why are we here?" Natasha asked.

"I wanted us to meet. Skye here is a hacker. She hacked for The Rising Tide before Coulson recruited her. Now she is working for S.H.I.E.L.D."

"The hacker group?" Barton asked, staring at Skye.

"Yes" Fury continued. "But she works for us now. Well, for Coulson right now. Isn't that right, kid?" Skye only nodded.

"So, is he still upset?" Barton asked Skye. When he saw that she didn't understand he continued. "Coulson, about his card collection?"

"Uhm, yeah, a bit. Wait, hang on." Skye turned to face Fury. "I thought the Avengers didn't know Coulson was alive?"

"I told them recently. But back to why we are here. I have watched you. You are very good, kid. I get why Coulson wanted to recruit you. You are smart and you see things others dismiss to easy. I have a job for you."

Skye listened to the man, completely focused and excited at the same time.

"I want you to check our security system. It is my belief that we have a mole. You don't need to know how I now, I just do. I want you to check the entire system. But no one can know. Even Coulson. Are we clear?"

"I don't like secrets. And I don't want to keep secrets from my team. Especially Coulson."

"I understand. But for now I have to know if you could do this without telling anyone. Trust me. It is for everybody's safety." Skye just nodded.

"Wait. I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because of this." Skye raised her right arm revealing the bracelet Coulson gave her.

"That? Don't worry. Here" Fury handed her thumb drive. "Whenever you work on the system plug this into a hub on your laptop. It will disengage the bracelet. Only Coulson knows the pass code to get it off. But this will do. The software on it is encrypted and if anyone should ever see it or inspect it, it will appear like any other memory stick. I even put some Disney movies on."

"Oh, how cute." Skye said in a squeaky voice.

"Knock it off. It's just for cover in case one of your team mates wants to know what is on it. By the way. I couldn't help but notice that someone, probably someone in this room, hacked a Level 8 server. Now, who might that be?"

Skye raised her hand, like a child in school.

"Care to explain why?" Fury demanded.

"Agent Hand send Ward and Fitz, my team mates and friends, on a suicide mission."

"I see. And what are you planning to do now?"

"I'm going to help them get out of there alive" Skye said, eyes staring at Fury.

"Alright then. Go and get your friends out of there. But before you go. You in?" Skye nodded. "And no sharing. This is a secret that needs to stay between us. For now" Skye nodded again. Fury dismissed her and asked Barton to escort her back to the Bus.

After Barton left Skye went to her bunk to hide the thumb drive. She would do it. Fury could have kicked her out. Make her leave S.H.I.E.L.D. Hell, he could have arrested her for hacking them again. But he didn't. He wanted her help. For S.H.I.E.L.D. He wanted her to help her team. And for now this was all that was important. Her team. Her friends. Her family. She needed to find May and Jemma and get out of there to get the boys. Even if Coulson wasn't in. She needed to get Ward and Fitz back. Safe and sound.