Chapter 1

"That must be our victim." Ward nodded at the body laying on the floor in the middle of the abandoned warehouse. The woman was blonde, petite and fairly non-threatening looking. Her clothes were tattered and bloody, the first sign that something was off. "Check her out, I'm going to take a look around."

"Uh, yeah, remind me why I'm here and not Simmons?" Skye sighed, wincing at the sight of the dead woman.

"Simmons is busy helping Fitz with that tech we brought in on Friday." Ward pointed out, "Coulson thinks you can handle it."

"Right, hacker, doctor, what's the difference?" She rolled her eyes.

"Are you up to the task or not?" Ward frowned.

"I'll do my best." Skye leaned over the body, trying not to be too bothered by her injuries. She pulled up the sleeve of the dead woman, frowning at the object wrapped around her wrist. It didn't look at all like what they were used to, it was a wide cuff made of old leather with some sort of runes around the edges. "Ward, look at this. This isn't Centipede."

"You're right." He frowned, "This looks old… and human."

"So we're dealing with something else. Something like the rage stick thing." She frowned, reaching for the cuff with a gloved hand.

"Don't touch that." Skye jumped at the voice, jerking her hand back just a second before her fingers would have come into contact with the cuff.

Her eyes darted over the face of the auburn haired girl, her jaw hanging open as she rose to her feet, "Donovan?"

The other girl tried to hide her surprise, not lowering the strange looking firearm she was pointing at the pair, "What are you doing here?"

"You know her?" Sky had almost forgotten Ward was there until he spoke, she was far more preoccupied with the girl before her. The auburn haired girl hadn't changed much since Skye had seen her last, she was still small and willowy, with soft brown eyes, though she now wore thick black makeup around them.

Skye backed up so she was standing beside him, eyeing the other girl cautiously, "I thought I did…"

"I'm sorry, Beth." Claudia told her, not lowering the strange looking gun, "I didn't want this to be like this, but I need to take that cuff and I get the feeling your buff friend here isn't going to let me do that."

"You're right." Ward agreed, "That's a potentially dangerous object, I can't allow you to take it."

"Oh please, dangerous objects are what I do." She pointed the gun at Ward, pulling the trigger and watching him collapse to the ground as the lightning hit him. Slowly, she turned the gun on Skye, "I really am sorry."

The girl sat on the rickety old bed in her room that rarely felt like her's, picking at the threadbare quilt that was never warm enough in the winter, staring at the new girl who couldn't be more then nine, a year younger then her. The new girl, Claudia, as Sister Margaret had called her, was perched uncomfortably on the edge of the bed that had just become her's. She'd come in like most other kids, with all her belongings, not that there were many, in a garbage bag. She looked lost, which was pretty standard for kids like the two of them, sans real family and apparently unwanted by foster families. Still, it was hard not to pity Claudia, she had a family once, someone she could remember and cling to in her thoughts. The girl never had. Slowly, she rolled off the bed, fishing underneath for the bag of jelly beans she kept hidden there. Crossing the room, she offered the auburn haired girl the bag, "Sweetie-bean?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on Claudia's face as she took a small handful of the beans, "Most people just call me Claudia… but thanks."

The girl chuckled, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to her , "They call me Beth, by the way."

"It doesn't suit." Claudia told her.

"I know." The girl grimiest, "The nuns gave it to me when I was left here."

Claudia smiled, "Well, maybe you should pick a new one…?"

"Skye?" Skye blinked and winced as Simmons called her name, patting her timidly on the cheek as if it would help her snap out of whatever lightning hangover she seemed to have. Needless to say, it did not have the desired effect, in fact, it was mostly just making her feel dizzy.

She groaned and waved the older girl's hand away, "Jem, not helping."

"Sorry." Simmons moved back so the younger girl could attempt to sit up, which apparently was a bad idea. Skye gave a pained groan and lowered herself back to the ground, her hands on her forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap." She snipped a little more sharply then she meant to. Her head was pounding like a bass drum on steroids. Suddenly she remembered what had been happening before she was zapped, "Where's Claudia?"

Simmons frowned, shaking her head, "Who's Claudia?"

"My… my sister. Sort of. It's complicated." She groaned, "We're… were very close. Practically sisters back at the orphanage… she shot us!"

"Is that what happened?" Ward grumbled a few feet away, "I just remember the body and the cuff and the light and that girl… Claudia."

"Yeah." Skye sat up again, this time staying upright, "This doesn't make any sense, she said she needed the cuff."

"Did she take the body?" Ward asked, glancing around, groggily.

"No." Fitz answered, wondering over with a device to check Skye and Ward for any internal injuries, "Just the cuff."

"Then that confirms, it was the cuff, not the woman, that she wanted." Skye frowned, stumbling to her feet, waving off Fitz as he tried to help her, "I have to find her. Where's the bus?"

"Outside." Simmons told her, helping Ward up and following after Skye's wobbly steps towards the plane, "If you two are so close, why have you never mentioned her?"

"We lost touch." Skye told the three agents in tow, trying not to think about the morning she'd woken up and found Claudia missing. "A long time ago now."

The girl sat up and stretched, yawning and rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. Claudia was already up, which was odd, since the younger girl was a particularly late riser. Slipping out of bed, she surveyed the room and a sudden panic came over her. Claudia's backpack was missing, her drawers mostly emptied, books and personal effects missing. The girl flew out of the bedroom, barely glancing into the two other bedrooms, the occupants all sleeping soundly, checking the living room and kitchen for any sign of the red haired girl, "Claude?"

Her shout roused one of her roommates, the man stumbled out of his room, blurry eyed and alarmed, "Kid, what's wrong?"

The girl stood in the middle of the living room, staring at him blankly, unsure of what to do anymore, "Claudia's gone…"