Summary: Waking up from a mission, Daisy has lost a couple years of memories and must cope with the abrupt changes of her life.
Notes: Hive will be the main villain in this once we get there. Also, Lincoln and Daisy are dating on the show in 3B (I think) and since that's when this takes place they would be dating here, though I do not touch on it very much.
Let Me Burn Twice
The brain is an interesting tool.
This is a subjective statement, of course. It's often been compared to a computer, though it has far more limitations and, in other ways, extensions than such, but this certain comparison is why she finds it rather remarkable. She likes computers.
Computers have memory and storage, as does the brain. Though with computers it's all rather clear-cut. You click 'save' and bam! That adorable picture of the puppy-esque kitten is now on your desktop, or the video of you dressed in Iron Man cosplay is put in your "never to be seen by anyone EVER" folder.
The brain on the other hand has two forms of memory. You may know this – short term and long term ring any bells?
What you may not know is that the average short-term memory only lasts twenty seconds.
Ok, you might have known that one. But did you know that with long term memory, sometimes our brains don't even bother to keep the whole thing? Our mind tries to save storage place, and will only keep part of a memory and rely on the brain to make-up the rest of it when that file is accessed. Like, filling in the gaps with the most plausible answer.
Or maybe you didn't know that memory begins twenty weeks after conception in the womb.
Skye had not known this. She didn't know anything about this subject just a few hours ago as a matter of fact, but people had been calling her Daisy. That just didn't make sense. So: memory studies.
Still not making sense?
Skye doesn't remember being Daisy. She doesn't remember being Daisy even though everyone else seems to. Her father may have called her that after her twenty weeks in the womb, but she doesn't discredit her brain for losing such early memories -even if it's true that's when they start.
It's everyone else that's telling her she's Daisy, that she's been Daisy, even though she doesn't recall it. Long term wise. (She remembers the tall blonde chick calling her Daisy a few minutes ago, thank you very much. Even if… she can't remember that woman's name. Skye thinks it was sort of manly..)
Anyway.
Key memories Skye can currently recall: hacking SHIELD, joining SHIELD, being shot, recovering from being shot while a man-handing Asgardian came to town, and trying to find the guy responsible for her being shot: AKA, the clairvoyant.
Which was why what had come next was so unnerving.
Had she fallen asleep on her computer, searching the deep web for any traces of this guy? Possibly. Probably. Well, yes. Is that currently her last recalled memory? Maybe so.
But she had not been in an old, near-vacant warehouse. She had not been in a tact suit and she had not not been on the BUS. Most importantly, she had certainly not been alone.
So waking up in those conditions was not the most reassuring thing to happen in her life.
Skye had a pounding headache when she came to, which was the first thing she had noticed. The air smelled stale and musky. It caused her to scrunch her nose in distaste as she raised fingers to her head to check for injury.
That's when she noticed the gloves and large adorned cuffs on her wrists. Some kind of gauntlets?
"What the…" she mumbled out.
"Daisy!"
She yelped.
Skye turned, her head screaming against the sudden movement as it sent another jab of pain through her.
A blonde guy quickly moved down to her level, taking a knee next to where she held herself propped up off the ground. There was concern, real and nervous concern, on his face.
Skye shook her head minutely. "I'm not-"
"Campbell!" came a deep shout. "You find her?"
"She's over here!" he exclaimed back, though Skye had to wince at the volume.
A very large- and by large, Skye meant jacked as hell- black man rounded the corner with similar held concern. "Damn Tremors, you had me worried there," he told her.
Was that another name? Daisy, Tremors… who did these people think she was?
Before Skye's running-on-backup-power brain could protest, two more people she didn't recognize came about.
"Why are you lot shouting to each other?" asked an English man. "We're on bloody comms. Nearly blew out my ear drum!"
The first two people shook their heads to dismiss the man, but the newcomer blonde woman didn't so much as acknowledge him. She was staring – again with the concern - at Skye.
"Daisy, are you ok?" asked the blonde. "We thought they had you for sure."
"Who?" Skye croaked, her voice feeling rusty. She coughed, rethinking her question before they had the chance to answer. "I- I think you people are confused. I'm not Daisy."
They certainly showed confusion then, shocked faces giving each other estranged looks. They were definitely cut from SHIELD cloth, or some similar spy agency. Skye could tell by the clothes. (Quite literally cut from SHIELD cloth in this case.)
"Did you hit your head or something?" asked the Brit.
Skye was starting to get scared. "I'm not sure."
"Do you recognize us?" asked the blonde woman, gesturing to her little group.
Skye shook her head nervously. Why would they all think they knew her? God, what if they were a part of Centipede. What if they were tricking her-
"What if she's been possessed or some nonsense?" said English. "Bloody Hydra…"
"Hey, it's ok," said the muscled man calmly as he watched her face fall to distress. "But uh, you might be the one confused. We certainly all know you, but you don't know us? There's a common denominator in there."
Skye looked down, contemplating. That did make sense…
"Don't worry," said the blonde guy as he warmed her up with a friendly smile. "We'll get you back to base. Coulson will know what to do."
Skye perked up. "Coulson?"
"Yeah!" exclaimed the Brit. "You know Coulson, right?"
"Of course," Skye started, beginning to pick herself up. She had still been half on the ground. "He's-"
There was a sound. The smallest of sounds, but it was there.
Three of the people before her went for their guns.
"We've got movement," said the blonde woman. Hidden behind some storage crates, they were all at a fair vantage point. But in order to get the upper hand the maybe/maybe not agents had to inch forward. The blonde guy stayed behind Skye. His hand was kept caringly close to her own, but he was on alert mode now. He didn't have a weapon, though he moved his hands abruptly and-
Sparks flew. From his hands. Electricity was spouting from this dude's palms!
Skye gulped, staring wide-eyed at the sight. This guy was either a gifted or Centipede had found a new super soldier serum. That organization might have wanted her dead before, but now they clearly wanted to take her in under the impression they were friendlies. Skye wasn't sure of the why, but there was no way she was going to stick around to find out.
While all four of their attentions were held elsewhere, Skye inched away from the hand of the man beside her. Once confident he wouldn't notice too quickly, she swiftly picked herself off the ground and ran in the opposite direction. It was still only moments later she heard his confused voice.
"Daisy? Daisy!"
"Tremors!"
Skye ran as fast as she could, completely unsure of where she was going. Before her was a clear dead-end though, so she had to make a turn. She did, but outstretched arms awaited her move and grabbed her shoulders to still her.
Skye struggled but briefly, because the moment she caught the person's eyes she felt nothing but relief.
"May," she sighed. "Thank god. I've been so confused."
"Daisy? What's going on?"
Skye's heart plummeted as she gasped a breath of air.
"You too?" she croaked.
May studied her face briefly. "What?"
"Daisy," she stressed.
May was lost, trying to find her eyes. She looked more concerned than Skye thought to have ever seen her. "You called me Daisy," said Skye. She pointed behind her. "Those people have been calling me Daisy!"
"Hydra?" guessed May, as if Skye would know what that meant.
"Who the hell is Hydra?" Skye asked. If she weren't so freaked out, she might have taken a moment to soak in this moment, as she was fairly certain she saw honest-to-god shock on Agent May's face.
Skye felt a sort of trembling, then. Small tremors from beneath her feet, vibrations. She looked around to see the crates rattling, the sound of the windows and stray items clattering against one another. The other people had caught up now, trying to catch their step in the shaking.
"Is that an earthquake?" Skye wondered out loud. "May, where are we?"
"She doesn't know," breathed the blonde man. Skye was fairly certain she heard the Englishman huff, "oh not this again…"
Skye didn't have time to ponder what that meant before May was turning her attention back to her.
"Skye?" May asked, her voice tinged with question.
"Yes," she said with immense relief. "What, have I been possessed or something? Did you name some demon possessing me Daisy?"
May stared at her blankly, so Skye gave a quick questioning glance to the rest of the group.
"Not that we know of," said the Brit. "But I'm starting to wonder…"
"What do you remember?" May asked.
"Well… I would say everything. I don't think I have gaps or whatever," said Skye. "But uh, we sent Lorelei and Sif back to Asgard yesterday. I fell asleep chasing leads."
"Lady Sif…" pondered the blonde girl. "That's who wanted to take Daisy to Asgard."
Skye could have laughed. She almost did, but she just snorted. "Asgard? Ok, I can pretty much guarantee you that if I got an invite to Thor's home world there is no way I'd be here right now." Skye paused. "Except, I'm not really in this current predicament by choice, anyway…"
May basically ignored her, directing her attention to the blonde. "That's Sif, but Daisy-" May shook her head, "Skye is remembering her first visit."
"She came back? But she was just here, right?" Skye asked, looking at May pleadingly. "Right?"
May sighed. "We need to get you to Fitz and Simmons."
Which was good news, Skye thought. They were blabbermouths and hell if she couldn't use one of those right about then. Because, despite her best efforts, the people she was with would not tell her what was going on. Even May! Though, May had never exactly been the talkative type…
They got onto a jet.
"Where's the BUS?" Skye asked.
Silence.
"Was that shaking an earthquake?"
Crickets.
"Is Hydra a person, place, or thing?"
That brought about some exasperated stares, but not much by the way of explanation.
Basically the only thing these people did tell her was their names. Agents Lance Hunter, Mack, Lincoln Campbell, Bobbi Morse – though she insisted Skye call her Bobbi, and Joey Gutierrez. Joey had been the culprit of the noise that had distracted the other agents earlier.
"Ok, I realize you're all being kind of tight lipped in case you set me off or something, which makes me kind of scared as to what information you're hiding anyhow-" Skye started pointedly, "but I saw this guy's hands spark. Literally." She looked directly at Campbell, as she recalled his name was. "Can you just tell me what that was? A weapon, or are you… a powered person?"
For a moment Skye thought he was going to tell her. He merely pursed his lips though, and turned to May. In askance. Surprisingly, she nodded.
"I'm a gifted… Skye," he said, pausing to think before her name. "My race is called Inhumans."
"Race? What, like an alien?" she asked.
Campbell grinned. "More like alien DNA."
"Wow. Ok, cool. And you're on the team?" She turned to May. "He's an agent?"
"He's a rookie," she said.
"Yeah, but…" Campbell started, giving her a half smile she couldn't help but think was cute. Lord, did she have a crush on this guy? Were these 'he's a cutie' feelings from her memory? "I'm your rookie."
Skye's eyebrows shot up. "My rookie? But, barely a day goes by when I'm not called rookie by my own SO." She paused. "Hey… speaking of Ward, where is the emotionally challenged?"
That's when things stilled again. Way quieter than before, with very little fidgeting.
"May," whispered Skye. "Is he…?"
"He's not dead," she said sharply. At least Skye could be reassured of that, because May's tone made it quite clear there should be no more questions. She brought two fingers up to play with her hair, but there was none dangling down the side of her lower neck. She grabbed higher and higher until finally she caught the first strand.
She couldn't help but squeak.
They got off Zephr 1 (that was the new plane's name; which was so not as homey as the BUS) and into the base.
A secret base. Had a codename and everything: The Playground.
May told Campbell to show Skye where the lab was. She didn't know why she couldn't stay with a familiar face, but the gifted wasn't so bad. If he was really her rookie… maybe they were pretty close?
If she really was this Daisy character they told she was (and that was a giant 'if'). Skye honestly didn't understand what was going on.
As they headed for the lab, Skye heard the telltale signs of Fitzsimmons' voices.
"-and that makes it my fault!"
"Jemma, please, stop. I can't stand you blaming yourself."
"How can I not, Fitz? He died saving me. He was in that hellish place for years and I ripped reprieve away from him just so I could go home after mere months!"
There was genuine hurt in Simmons' voice, and soon the tears added to it were unmistakable.
"If you want me to say that I wish you'd sacrificed your life for his, I can't do that, Jemma." Skye and Campbell finally moved into the room, tentatively, but they saw how Fitz enveloped her. "I care for you too much."
"Ehem," coughed Campbell loudly. The two split apart as though they were hot.
Skye scowled. "Points for tact," she whispered sarcastically.
"Hey guys," Campbell said strongly as he walked forward into the unfamiliar lab.
"Hi Lincoln," they both muttered half-heartedly.
"You two got the message about… her, right?" he asked.
Simmons gave Skye quite a pathetic half smile, and Fitz didn't even try to look at her.
It was heartbreaking.
Jemma nodded. "Yes. Come here, Skye, I'll take a look at you."
Campbell gave her a squeeze to the shoulder, meant to be reassuring as he was handing her off, but these were the people she knew. Of course she was more comfortable with them! Still, she gave him a grateful smile.
"How do you feel?" she asked, gesturing for Skye to sit down. Fitz hovered, arms across his chest. He'd gotten a haircut, she noted, as well as his stubble having grown out. He looked good, but somehow, she preferred the old style.
Jemma had changed her hair as well, though it was a bit subtler. Nothing like Skye's massive chopping…
"I feel right as rain," she said truthfully. "I had a headache when I first woke up, but now that that's gone, I can focus on how incredibly weird everything is. We all got moved to a base?"
That brought out a small smile in Jemma, as though she were reminiscing on something particularly funny. "We basically had to come to the Playground after SHIELD collap-" she cut herself off, frowning. "Um, how much did the others tell you?"
Skye crossed her arms. "Not much of anything, really…"
Fitz came into her line of sight. "So they didn't even tell you about Hydra?"
Skye shook her head. "They mentioned it, but no one would tell me what it meant. What is it?"
It was then that Skye figured Fitzsimmons would do one of their shared looks, telepathically deciding whether to forfeit such information to Skye. But instead, they stared off into opposite directions. Downward, separately pondering.
"I think we could catch you up a bit… but first, what's the last thing you remember?"
Hydra was from World War II. Captain America's time, and had apparently come "out of the shadows" to put SHIELD in the ground. They survived, but by the skin of their teeth.
It had taken a toll on everyone. She'd yet to see Coulson, but she could tell Fitz and Simmons weren't in the best place. That tall blonde (Skye couldn't recall her name and was too embarrassed to ask again) came down to help them with Skye's medical exam. She wasn't the most cheerful person on the block as well, though she was honestly better than most.
Eventually they told Skye she had some sort of amnesia, though they had no clue what had caused it. She'd been taking on some Hydra goons when her comms had gone out –because she was a full-fledged SHIELD field agent, apparently, - and they found her lying on the ground like that.
When she asked about the Daisy thing, they said that her amnesia just happened to take her back to before she changed her name. Skye couldn't believe she'd switch it from the one she'd chosen herself unless she'd found her birth parents, but that was, in fact, exactly what had happened.
Though of course her team was then sketchy on those details as well.
So she could deal with the changing her own name and becoming a field agent thing, maybe… but when she went to her bunk to get dressed, she'd found her entire wardrobe had morphed as well.
She'd chopped off her hair and taken away her own style, flannel! Her favorite linen in the world. It felt like her identity had been taken away… but she'd done it all herself? She wasn't sure she could take that all in. Maybe she had been possessed this entire time, and her team just hadn't noticed it.
Plus, they seemed to still be hiding something from her. She just couldn't tell what.
She ripped off the strange gauntlets that lined her skin tight suit – she understood the cat suit, really, but what was up with those things?- and tried to find something from her old wardrobe. It was like she'd thrown it all out. She managed to wrangle up a maroon long sleeved shirt and some black pants.
Which brought her to this point in time, googling and searching for whatever was out there on amnesia.
There was a knock on her door. She quickly glanced up from the laptop she'd been provided. "Come in," she called.
"Hey, how you feeling?" asked Agent Mack, peeking his head inside.
She gave him a half smile. "Ok. Trying to catch up on everything. News and whatnot. *"
He chuckled. "That's a good idea. Did you get to Sekovia yet?"
Skye tilted her head. "No…"
"Ah. Oh, it's nothing to worry about," he said, waving a dismissive hand. "The Avengers took care of it."
"Right…" she muttered, mentally adding that to her google checklist. "So, what brings you to my humble abode?" Humble might have been too kind of a word. There was absolutely nothing to distinguish this room from any other. In fact, given the closet's tenants, she probably wouldn't have thought this was her room at all if Simmons hadn't told her.
"The director would like to see you," he said.
"Fury? He's here?"
Mack smiled, but Skye didn't feel dumb by his amusement. She actually liked how friendly he was to her. "Not exactly. C'mon, I'll take you to him."
"Daisy," Coulson acknowledged when she walked into his office. "I'm glad to see you're ok."
Skye gulped. Alright, so AC had never exactly been the most fuzzy teddy bear type, but there had always been… a warmth to him when he saw one of his team members were ok.
This… he was relieved, but not overly. Like a director would be with one of his agents and nothing more. Perhaps Skye shouldn't have assumed there should be more, but she had always hoped.
Maybe she hadn't been in Hydra's clutches long enough for him to have been notified before they found her, and maybe the amnesia thing was worrying him too much to be overly relieved anyhow.
Or maybe something completely unrelated to her was wearing him down.
He must have noticed her unresponsiveness, because he continued quickly. "I'm sorry, do you prefer Skye, at the moment? Honestly, it took me a while to get used to the Daisy thing in the first place."
Skye shrugged, smiling a bit as she saw her Coulson emerge. "Whatever decides to pop out of your mouth is fine by me. It was my own decision to change my name, after all. Or so they tell me…"
"So you remember nothing? Not anything from the past two years?"
Skye flinched backwards in surprise. So she didn't think this metamorphosis would have happened overnight, but… years?
"No. I remember our team. Actually, I feel a lot better and stronger since the last thing I remember."
Coulson nodded. "You were recovering."
"Yeah. Did we ever catch the clairvoyant?"
Coulson opened his mouth, but an answer did not come out. It kind of looked like one might have been close to waltzing out, but perhaps the answer was too out of left field to even attempt.
Which was frustrating, because Skye felt like it could have been a 'yes' or 'no' sort of thing.
He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, showing the most affection she'd seen since she'd walked into his office. "I think we may have to have a debrief for you. A lot's happened… maybe I can try to organize the information so it won't be so… confusing."
Overwhelming, Skye autocorrected in her head. Could things have really been that bad? She wished Ward weren't wherever he was, she was sure he'd set her straight. He was almost frustratingly blunt with the truth.
"Sounds like a plan. I'm gonna… get cleaned up, then," said Skye, beginning to walk towards the door. "And… director?" she added, the word tasting funny on her tongue. He turned to her. "What's up with the one-sided glove? Futuristic fashion statement…?"
Coulson chuckled once, so it came out as a breath of laughter. "I'll make sure to include that in on the debrief.
Author's Note: I'm taking a break from Breaking the Wolf to get this mini-story up. It will be multi-chapter, but only a few. Let me know what you think!