Run.
May's words screamed through Skye's mind as she battled the underbrush below and lights above. That single word drove her forward in a mad dash as she prayed she'd find somewhere, anywhere, that she could hide. There had to be a place to go, somewhere she'd actually be safe.
Why had Coulson left her out here in the middle of the woods? Why had he just abandoned her?! She knew that wasn't a fair assessment (seriously, how was he supposed to know this would happen?), but damnit! She was running from who knows who, in the middle of who knows where, trying to dodge a damn electrical fence she had no clue about the location of! How was she supposed to do this?!
Not for the first time, Skye wished she'd turned Coulson away when they'd dropped of Ace. That she'd waved goodbye and walked off into the proverbial sunset alone. That she'd escaped back to her nice, comfortable van and just disappeared again. But no, she had to take the adventurous route. She had to get involved in SHIELD. She just had to know who her parents were and why they'd abandoned her. The old phrase about sleeping dogs was making a bit more sense, though at this point she thought it should probably be about dragons instead. Sleeping dragons made a hell of a lot more sense.
A beam of light bounced over her momentarily and she cursed, then nearly screamed when something collided with her. There was a dizzying moment where she was falling through the air and she felt something like cloth flopping around her as she went down. Then there was someone on top of her, pinning her arms and legs down into the ground with skill. Oh god, she couldn't breath. She was going to hyperventilate. She was going to cause-
The ground beneath her began to shake rapidly and with a strength that was frightening in its intensity.
The person on top of her froze, then shifted so they were braced more above her than directly on top of her. She should fight, she should move and strike back or something... except even the person's shift hadn't actually given her an opening. All around her, all she could see was darkness, like she was in some kind of a weird tent.
"Skye, you need to hold still, otherwise they'll spot us." Ice slid down Skye's spine, her body freezing as horror gripped her chest in a vice. Oh god, she knew that voice. She knew the voice and the body above her. Grant Ward had her pinned to the ground of the forest. He had her trapped and she wasn't sure how she could get free. Every ounce of her training went flying out of her head.
The ground shook harder.
"Skye, do you want them to find you?" asked Ward, his hands shifting on hers, weaving their fingers together in a way that was way too intimate for how angry with him she still was. "Because I can just get up and run right now and leave you for these guys to throw into your own cage, or you can calm down and let me help you avoid capture like I was asked to."
"Who the hell would ask you to keep me safe?" growled Skye, her voice finally coming back as the shock began to wear off and anger at his words began to suffuse her body. Trees near by creaked ominously, warning that they were unprepared for the shaking that Skye was causing.
"Fitz and Hunter."
Skye froze again, her mind trying to wrap itself around the idea of Fitz, a man so badly hurt by Ward, going to the traitorous asshole for help. How would Fitz or Hunter have even found him anyway? And why would either, particularly Fitz, have asked Ward to protect her? How would he even know something was amiss?
"Skye, please, I need you to calm down and stop making the ground shake before this entire forest falls on our heads," repeated Ward, his thumbs brushing against the backs of her hands. "I have a sedative on me, but I don't want to use it on you. I'd rather not have to drag you out of these woods unconscious. Okay? Please."
Well, he had a valid point about the trees coming down. But it still didn't make sense that he was there to help her. "How do I know you aren't with the people trying to find me?"
"Because I gave up working for government institutions around the time Coulson threw me under the bus," growled Ward, his frustration leaking into his voice a little. "Look Skye, I was asked to come keep you from getting kidnapped by these lunatics. I'm not here to drag you away. What happens after I help you escape is entirely up to you. My job is done."
Taking a deep breath, Skye tried to breath, to calm down and stop the Earth from shaking. Tried to keep her powers from acting up. It worked, kind of. Her bones at least didn't feel like they were breaking this time when the ground slowed and finally stopped. She could hear the shouts of men around them then as the rumble of the earth finally died away. They were shouting, trying to find the epicenter. Something.
Above her, Ward relaxed a little, though she could still tell he was on high alert. Still sense the tension in his body. It made her sick how safe that feeling still made her. She needed to move, to do something to get her mind back on track. "This doesn't mean I trust you."
"Never trust anyone, ever," stated Ward absentmindedly, though it sounded like he was quoting someone. "That's how you get burned."
"Because you'd know so much about being betrayed," remarked Skye sarcastically, trying to wiggle free from under him. "Can I sit up?"
"Not yet," murmured Ward, his voice dropping to the point where it was nearly a whisper. "We're in the shadows of a tree, but too much variation in the surrounding landscape will still give us away. Camouflage tarps can only do so much."
"Great," muttered Skye, her fingers digging into the ground as she tried to remain calm. She'd beaten Ward before. She could take him out again. Besides, if he was with these people, he would be jumping up and waving at them to attract their attention, not trying to keep them hidden. She was a good enough agent to know the other operatives weren't far off. It wouldn't be hard for him to put out a call and bring the whole group crashing down on her head.
Seconds turned to minutes as they heard the men from whatever agency this was scampering around them. Still, it sounded like they were moving further away. Maybe. It was hard to say what was really going on given she couldn't see outside of the tarp.
"Skye, listen to me," stated Ward quietly, the fingers on one of her hands loosening. "I set up a distraction before I came out here looking for you. There's going to be an explosion. When it goes off, we're going to take off running to the north. Got it?"
"Why the north?" asked Skye, even as she shifted her free hand under her. She was serious when she said she didn't trust him. He was helping her though, for whatever reason, and at this point she didn't have a hell of a lot of options. She wasn't even sure where she was, much less how to get somewhere safe. Ward might not be safe, but he might at least have a vehicle she could use to escape. "What's north?"
"A break in the electrical fence I caused earlier," explained Ward. She could hear him shifting around for something in his pocket. "It's our way out."
"Right, and how do I know you aren't leading me into a trap?" asked Skye, her earlier paranoia coming forward like a tidal wave. She couldn't see any reason why he'd lead her into a trap after hiding her from whoever was chasing her, but there was probably a sick and twisted reason for such a plan.
Something cool and smooth fell beside her hand. It barely had to brush her skin for her to realize what it was: a syringe. He hadn't been kidding about the sedative. "Because if I wanted to hand you over to these people, I would have just sedated you and left you here. I'm paying a debt to help you out here, Skye. This isn't personal. I'm doing this for Fitz, because I ruined his fucking life and you apparently make him feel better."
His words actually stung a little, to her surprise. She shouldn't be surprised at all, of course. She shot him and left him for dead- there was no reason he should be kind to her. Hell, he should probably just leave her for dead at this point. Maybe that's what he was going to do; maybe he was going to shoot her and leave her for dead. Then again, he'd helped Garrett shoot her before, so turnabout was fair play. At least she had the balls to shot him herself, even if she was still shocked she had.
God, that day was still a clusterfuck, even in her head. She could barely remember most of it save the driving urge to make everything stop. If she was honest, she barely remembered shooting Ward, barely registered what she'd done. All she'd cared about in that moment was stopping her father and Raina. Nothing else had really clicked, not even Trip's death. It had taken days before everything had begun to sunk in. Not that she would ever tell Ward that- he didn't need to know she'd spent days crying for both him and Trip. That she'd felt guilty for what she'd done.
"Skye." Ward half spit her name, prompting her to turn her head to glare at him.
"What?" she hissed, glaring blindly towards him.
"Get ready to run," he ordered quietly. A click echoed slightly between them then before a loud explosion broke through the area, making the ground beneath them rumble with its power.
She barely had time to blink before Ward was up and dragging her to her feet, taking off north. Without pause, she followed, leaving behind the scent of smoke and the screams and shouts of the confused men. The helicopters above, the men behind them, it all was left behind as they scrambled away from the group. She had to admit, even if he was planning to betray her, the man knew how to create a distraction. Then again, he was an amazing specialist- even if he was a traitor, no one could deny his skills.
The forest blurred as they ran, Ward falling back when she'd fall back and hauling her forward. Everything blurred as they moved, her mind focusing on escape and pushing all else aside. Her agent training kicked in, driving her harder and faster. It felt like hours as they ran, even though she was sure it was only minutes; every sense was alive and alert, prepared for a surprise attack. She thought about breaking away from him multiple times, but the fact that she didn't know where exactly the laser grid was prevented her from doing so. She needed him at least as far as the laser fence.
It was only when they hit a particularly thick group of trees that Ward even began to slow, and even then it was only to reach for something in his pocket. Skye felt her blood chill as she did, wondering if they were about to be ambushed. Wondering if it was some kind of Hydra signal that was going to bring a team down on their heads. She started to pull away, but Ward grabbed her hand and forced her to keep going forward. She thought about dropping her weight, about hitting the ground and forcing him to release her, but he tugged her forward and wrapped an arm around her waist before she could. For a second, fear gripped her again. Then the crackling registered a second before they were bursting through the thick trees and between two thin black polls. The crackling intensified as soon as they were clear, blue flashing in the dark as the laser grid came back online seconds before it vanished back into the inferred spectrum.
Almost immediately, her body relaxed a little. The men chasing them were now trapped on the other side of the fence, assuming they'd even picked up her and Ward's trail. That would be hard given the number of turns and twists they'd made getting out this way. And even if they could, they were far enough behind she couldn't even hear them anymore. They'd escaped and there wasn't a team waiting here to snatch her up. He'd been telling the truth.
"So what now?" asked Skye quietly as Ward released her and stepped away.
He grunted, looking silently into the woods. "I'm heading back to the civilized world. I spent five years living in the woods alone, don't really wanna be out here any longer than I have to be."
"Five years?" asked Skye, one eyebrow shooting up. There was no way that was true. Well, wait, no, actually if he was telling the truth it would explain a lot. His social skills were like those of someone who'd grown up in the woods. "Let me guess, you were raised by wolves."
"If Garrett counts as a wolf," countered Ward simply, his words trailing off as the sound of a car engine cut through the woods. "You want a lift somewhere?"
Skye tensed at the sound of the engine, but tried to relax again when she realized it was probably Ward's ride. He had to get out there somehow, though she'd suspected he'd come alone. "Depends, who's driving."
"Kara," replied Ward, waving slightly as a black truck pulled up into the edge of the trees. He headed for it almost immediately, leaving Skye behind as he did.
She was forced to move quickly to catch up with him. "Where are you going?"
"Nearest city," stated Ward as he pulled open the car door. "If you want a lift there, get in."
Narrowing her eyes a little, Skye went around the side of the car, passing the drivers side where she could see Kara giving her a dark glare. Pulling open the door, she climbed into the truck and tried to settle herself. This was her only way out; she had no clue where she was or how far the closest town was or anything about surviving out here. This was legitimately her only way out. Especially if she didn't feel like ending up in the hands of whoever these psychos were.
She'd barely climbed into her seat before Kara was accelerating backwards down the hill and sending her head slamming into the driver's seat. "Shit!"
"Sorry." Kara's voice clearly said she wasn't. "Got to move if we don't want to get caught."
"Thanks for the warning," muttered Skye as she reached out for the seat belt and clicked it into place with a deep breath. Her hands were beginning to ache and shake from both pain and adrenaline loss and her heart was finally starting to settle into a normal rhythm again. It also meant exhaustion was creeping in though, making her drowsy. She was honestly starting to wish Ward had used the sedative.
A bottle of pills suddenly appeared in front of her face along with an unopened bottle of water. Glancing up, she found Ward reaching back to offer both objects to her, though he wasn't looking at her. "Here. Your arms have to be killing you. Fitz said something about hairline compression fractures."
"Yeah," muttered Skye, taking both objects, though she just stared at them for a moment. They could be drugged, either the water or the pills. If she used them, she might wake up in a Hydra base somewhere.
"Both are new and I have the receipt from the pharmacy if you need to see it," remarked Ward, though there was a resigned sort of acid to his tone. Like he understood why she was reluctant but didn't like it all the same. "Besides, drugging you at this point would be kind of pointless. I already fulfilled my end of the deal and then some since we're giving you a ride."
Nodding slowly, Skye opened the bottle on the painkillers and found the seal intact. She actually debated taking it for the longest moment, then dumped two pills into her palm with shaking hands and down them with the water. Screw it, she was already in a car with these two. They could just shoot her if they needed to disable her. Pills were kinda elaborate, even for Ward. "Which reminds me, how the hell did you get in contact with Hunter and Fitz anyway?"
"It was mostly Hunter," admitted Ward, shrugging a bit and settling back in his seat. "Apparently I'm not the only traitor Coulson has dragged in."
Skye felt her blood go cold. No, that couldn't be right. There was no way someone else could have betrayed them. Who would they even betray them to? Then again, the super secret safe house she'd just been held in was under attack behind them. Someone had to be behind that. "Is everyone okay?"
"Don't know," replied Ward, leaning forward a little in the darkness to look at something ahead. "Hunter contacted me from some kind of radio he jury-rigged on a sub to say that two people named Bobbi and Mack were traitorous scum planning to take out Coulson and uproot SHIELD. He'd contacted your HQ and Fitz had picked up the signal. He'd told Fitz, who apparently told him that you'd been transferred to a safe house away from the team for everyone's protection. Don't know how, but Fitz got the coordinates for your location and Hunter somehow contacted us and asked that we come get you out and keep you safe. Last I heard, the HQ was still intact, but this strike against you probably means it's not."
"Fuck," cursed Skye, the pain in her arms increasing momentarily as her fists tightened. "I need to get into contact with the others."
"If your HQ has been compromised, that's probably not a good idea," pointed out Kara as she turned the wheel sharply to avoid something in the dark. "I hope that was a deer and not an agent."
"It was a deer," confirmed Ward, his eyes still staring out into the darkness.
Kara made a noise in her throat. "Is that loaded?"
For a second, Skye was confused. Then she noticed the gun resting in Ward's lap. Right, of course he was armed. They were running from deranged, armed individuals. Why wouldn't he be armed, too?
"Yeah," confirmed Ward, shifting around in the front. "How are your arms, Skye?"
"Painful," replied Skye, wincing as she shifted them in her lap. "Compound fractions from earthquake powers kinda hurt when you're turning your earthquakes in on your body."
The was what almost sounded like an amused snort from Kara. "So you turned yourself into a vibrator?"
Silence met the other woman's comment. Skye wasn't actually sure what to say to that. Part of her wanted to laugh, to take that moment for what it was and enjoy it. The other part of her actually winced at the comparison, not finding the joke amusing at all. She'd broken bones because of these powers, damnit.
There was a snort from Ward, as if he were trying to restrain himself from laughing. "Kara..."
"What?" asked Kara innocently. "She's the one who talked about making her body shake."
At that point, Skye couldn't take it. She broke out laughing. No normal laughing either, hysterical laughing like some crazy person. Which at this point she probably was, all things considered. This whole thing was a nightmare. A true nightmare. And now here she was, sitting in a car with two people who probably wanted her dead, and one of them was making sex jokes about her powers.
"Skye?" The worried tone in Ward's voice helped to calm some of her hysteria, though she was still breathing hard. She could feel water on her face too, which was probably what was freaking Ward out so badly.
"Did she crack?" asked Kara, which nearly sent Skye back into peels of laughter.
"I think you broke her," remarked Ward wearily. That statement did send her back into fits of laughter, almost to the point where she couldn't breathe. When the laughter turned to tears, Skye wasn't sure, but the last thing she really remembers clearly was the sensation of crying without really knowing why.
"Is she asleep?" Kara's incredulous comment didn't really surprise Grant. He just shrugged a little and kept his eyes trained forward. He hadn't been able to get a good look at Skye since this began and he didn't intend to now. Despite his words to Kara, he wouldn't deny he was still bitter and lost where Skye was concerned. And despite his words to Skye, he knew this rescue had as much to do with her as with Fitz asking. He owed the scientist and he would never deny that. To deny that he owed the other man would be to insult himself and Fitz. The reason for Fitz's clear and nearly desperate concern for Skye, well, he just wasn't going to think on that.
"She's probably exhausted Kara," dismissed Grant quietly, his eyes dancing amid the shadowy outlines in front of the truck as they off-roaded through the forest. He had to admit, Fury definitely didn't joke around with his safe houses. This place was a pain to reach without a plane.
"I thought she was supposed to be an agent," groused Kara, shaking her head a bit. "Shouldn't she be able to handle more than a single attack? And what if we wanted to hurt her? She'd be dead by now if we did."
Grant snorted a little. It wasn't exactly a secret to him that Kara probably did want to hurt Skye. Why, he wasn't sure, but he assumed it had to do with whatever feelings she had towards him. "Just let her sleep. It's fine."
"I'm just saying, she's a pretty crappy agent if she's willing to fall asleep with two potential hostiles in the car with her," stated Kara with a shrug, her eyes remaining locked on the road. "It's a pretty stupid move."
He had to admit it was, and he didn't really want to think about the reasons why Skye might have done it. Still, he couldn't image she was exactly sleeping right now. If he suddenly had uncontrollable earthquake powers that could break his bones if he wasn't careful, he probably wouldn't risk sleeping. "Well then it's a good thing we aren't hostiles."
Kara nodded slightly, apparently deciding to drop the matter of Skye sleeping in the back seat. If it was because she could sense his unease with the topic or a disinterest, he couldn't say. Probably both. "So where are we dropping her?"
"No where for the time being," replied Grant quietly as he reached for his satellite phone and checked it for calls. "Hunter is supposed to contact us when he hits land. He'll come get Skye from us and then she's Coulson's problem again."
Beside him, Kara hummed unhappily. "You don't want to let her go." Grant felt his shoulder's tense. Kara just sighed. "Talk to me, Grant."
Sighing, Grant ran a hand through his hair. "It's not what you think."
"I think you're still in love with her," remarked Kara, though there was some pain in her tone. "Just because she doesn't love you, doesn't mean you can't still love her."
"I made a promise to her before," repeated Grant, his voice wavering a little. He wasn't going to look into the deeper meaning behind his actions. "That's it."
"Mhm," hummed Kara, the pain fading to clear disbelief. "And not wanting to let her go is because you promised this Fitz and Hunter you'd take care of her."
Grant winced, leaning forward to balance his elbows on his knees as he continued to scan the woods. "It's not that."
"No, you don't say," replied Kara with so much sarcasm, Grant thought he could drown in it.
Rolling his eyes, he glanced sideways at Kara for a second in notable irritation before refocusing his gaze forward again. "Coulson's clearly pissed someone off and Skye is vulnerable right now. She fell asleep in the back of a truck with the two of us; that's a pretty bad sign. I don't want her to get dragged into a fight and killed or, worse, captured because her powers are out of control. Just because I don't love her anymore-" Kara let out a muttered 'ha' at that, which he pointedly ignored- "doesn't mean that I want to see her get killed or captured. Who knows what these people would do to her."
Kara winced visibly at his open ended sentence. He was pretty sure she was imagining some of the same nasty scenarios he was. SHIELD hadn't really treated gifted people well and he couldn't imagine what this new organization would do. "Point."
"Yeah," sighed Grant, his shoulders relaxing a little as they finally came out of the woods at the back of an old cabin and pulled forward down the long driveway to the main road. At that point, Kara flipped the front lights on and sped up to something more reasonable for the road.
"You know we can't keep living in major areas with her though, right?" pointed out Kara as she settled back into the drivers seat. "Not unless you want to move to California that is. Or Hawaii. Oooh, we could go to Hawaii."
"Hawaii wouldn't be bad," admitted Grant, a touch of a smile pulling at his lips. "We could blend in there well enough."
"Plus they're on the Ring of Fire," added Kara, nodding as if this was somehow a plan they were actually going to try to execute. "They have earthquakes all the time. Will anyone honestly notice if there's a few more than usual?"
"Same can be said for California," reminded Grant, the idea slowly settling into something more comfortable. "The northern areas are nice but not densely inhabited. Plus, they earthquake proof there, so Skye isn't likely to cause damage regardless of what she does."
"Well, unless she causes a superquake," pointed out Kara, her eyes going wide at a thought. "Can we call her Quake?"
"Quake?" repeated Grant, raising an eyebrow at his friend and partner. "Why would we call her that?"
"Because she causes earthquakes and it's a fun name?" suggested Kara with a shrug as she picked up speed a little when they hit a long, straight stretch of road.
Glancing in the rear view mirror at Skye at last, Grant let his lips quirk a little at the idea. "You'll have to ask Skye. She's the one who'll have to live with you calling her that."
"Quake it is," stated Kara almost gleefully. Grant suspected she'd call Skye 'Quake' even if his former teammate said no. It seemed like it was Kara's self-assigned duty to annoy the girl. "You really think she'll stay with us, though?"
"I don't know," sighed Grant, shaking his head a little and forcing his eyes back onto the road and their surroundings. "We'll see what Hunter says when he finally contacts us. I'm just planning a worst case scenario. No matter what, I'm not abandoning Skye to these people. The last thing we need is her in the hands of some unknown government agency. I've see what happens then, and it's the last thing this world needs."