I'm guessing people are pretty excited for this, and I am too so far. Thanks for all the response!

I'm pretty glad I edited the direction of the story, although I did have to lose a really powerful scene involving Raina. I've gotta to tell you guys, I really can't wait to push Raina into this more because I love what I've done with her in this!

A lot of people are intrigued by Dark Jemma, as I've come to call her. Making her what she is in this instead of Hydra was one of the better decisions I've ever made. I hope you all like the plans I have in store for her. Unfortunately, you don't get to see what she's up to in this chapter, but the next will provide some more of her being sinister.

So, this is four months after the finale, and things are looking pretty good for everyone. And because I'm a sap and it's pretty awesome for the plot, my Scottish science babe is alright. You guys might try to call me out on some possible Skitz, but I'm probably not going to go down that road. Maybe, I don't know though. Possibly not. Augh, I don't know yet. Just read this chapter, review, tell me what you think.

Chapter 1: 4 Months Later

"I found your daughter."

Raina watched him closely as he studied the photograph. His hands were covered in blood, and she shivered a little inside. His hands were always covered in blood, even when they were clean. No matter how hard he scrubbed, she still knew there was always going to be blood on his hands.

A smile crept across his face. "Who gave you this?"

"Simmons." She kept her answer short, clear and precise. The sooner she was gone, the better she would feel.

He looked at her, and her stomach twisted in hate. "Jemma is rarely wrong."

"Please let her be for once." Raina thought silently. If it was true, if Skye was who he thought she was, then Raina would do whatever it took to protect her, and if she failed, then there would be more blood on her hands, more personal blood. "No one is perfect."

"One day, we will all be perfect, Raina."

The girl flinched. She hated that name, but he had demanded that she take it when she went to investigate the Clairvoyant. Her real name was something he only called her when things were serious.

"You know she's more than just my daughter," he continued, smiling at the photograph hungrily. "Especially to you."

Raina bit her lip, holding back anger. She didn't want to believe it. It would be the worst thing ever if it was true. It would condemn Skye to tests and experiments, a life she herself had been forced into by fear. Skye deserved happiness and freedom and blissful ignorance of this horror, and she would do whatever it took to ensure she stayed away from all of this.

"Well forgive me for losing my faith," she snarled. "After all those other times we've been wrong before, I don't know if this one's the right one either."

With that she left the room. She hated this thing. Every time he thought he'd found her before, he'd been wrong and another innocent had died. Raina didn't want to believe that Skye was the one they'd searched so long for, but the little voice in the back of her head kept pointing out the possibilities.

"Please," she thought silently. "Please don't let her be Tian Kong."

Four months later

Skye couldn't help but chuckle as she hit the mat once more. It always made her laugh when she sparred with him. After four months of training with May, there weren't a lot of people out there who could knock her down. However, the fact that she could sometimes befriend the floor when she sparred with one particular person just made her giggle.

"Why do you always do that?" Her partner asked, holding out a hand. Skye grasped it, and Leo Fitz pulled her up.

"Because four months ago, you are the last person who I thought could take me down," laughed Skye. She walked over to the bench in the Playground's gym and tossed him his water bottle.

It had been four months since they had landed at the Playground base and began their work to re-build SHIELD. During the first month they'd been there, Leo had been in a coma thanks to his trip to the bottom of the ocean. Then halfway in the second month, he'd miraculously woken up without any negative side effects from his coma. He had full control of his body, his motor skills were intact, and his memory was unscathed. It was as if he'd only slept ten hours instead of waking up from an almost two month coma.

After he'd awoken and had been cleared by Simmons, Leo had asked Tripp to train him. He wanted to know how to protect and defend himself. To go on the offensive instead of running away. So Tripp had taken him under his wing, and helped him. Over the course of two months filled with rigorous training, Leo Fitz had become quite capable of defending himself. He had also developed a fine set of abs and stronger muscle definition that his blue-gray exercise shirt displayed quite nicely. Not that Skye had ever been staring at him lately. Which she hadn't.

In the month that he'd first started to work out, Leo and Simmons had kind of been dating since he had confessed having feelings for her before they escaped the med pod. Skye had been happy for Simmons when she had told her, but also a little sad and jealous. She wasn't sure why, but attributed it to Ward and his betrayal. However, the romance had only lasted a month with them deciding they were better off as best friends and lab partners. Skye was surprised that both of them took the break-up very well. She couldn't even tell who had broken up with whom. But Leo later confided after a joint-training session with her that he'd been the one who talked to her first about it, and she had agreed.

Joint-training sessions with Leo and Trip had become more common recently, and Skye liked them better than training alone with May. When she was alone with May, the older woman was quieter than usual, more reluctant. Almost, and Skye couldn't believe she could ever associate the word with someone like May, scared. There was a sad look in her eyes sometimes too, like she was remembering something, but more often there would be moments where she almost hesitated when she sparred with Skye.

Her status as an 084 was mostly likely the blame of that, and the past four months of going through old files while helping Coulson had brought her no new leads on who (or what) she really was. Skye felt like a time bomb, slowly ticking down until her powers would reveal themselves and destroy everyone around her in some way. She'd told Leo this one night when she woke up screaming from a nightmare where her powers caused a massive explosion and killed everyone she ever cared about. To her surprise, he'd taken it incredibly well, and agreed to keep it a secret from Simmons, Tripp, and Billy Koenig.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Leo asked, interrupting her thoughts.

Skye took a swig of her water bottle. "Well, Coulson's got me going through those files we got from one of the Academies to find out what we can use in the new SHIELD," she rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I don't know why I have to look through Academy files on cadets who were there in the sixties. I mean, I get it, look for the ones we know are Hydra, find what they did later, blah blah blah. But there's just so much stuff."

"You're all too capable of doing it Skye," Leo said, giving her a reassuring smile. "Trust me, I know. You're my best friend. It'll go fine."

Best friend. Skye blushed. "Best friend?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "What about your science twin? You know, Simmons. The biochemist. Our friend who can't lie to save her life."

He sighed and ran a hand through his sweaty curls. "Simmons is…complicated."

Skye sat down on the bench. "Complicated?"

"Uh-huh," Leo looked shyer all of the sudden. "Don't get me wrong, she's been with me since we both started at the Academy and we're really close friends."

"And you got together too," Skye added, sounding a little harder than she intended. "Sorry, go on."

"Yeah," Leo fiddled with his water bottle. "But after I told her how I felt, something seemed different about her when I woke up. Like she was just being with me so I could be happy. She was trying really hard, I could tell. But I didn't want to be with someone who had to be another person to make me happy. Does that make any sense?"

Skye nodded. It made a lot of sense, and it brought back a lot of memories. Memories she didn't like to think about. "I get you," she said, avoiding his gaze. "That's why you split. Because you felt she was being the person you wanted her to be, and not herself."

"Mm-hm," he mumbled. "I told her this. She said she understood what I was saying. But she's still not the same Simmons I gave that last burst of oxygen to. She's changed. We still work great together and everything, but there's something different about her. She's quieter, more than usual. There's times when she hides whatever she's working on and when I ask her, she tells me what it is and I know she's telling me the truth because she can't lie to save her life, but it's like she's hiding things. Sometimes, I feel like she's watching me, and I'm not-"

"Leo," Skye placed her hand over his. It was warm and firm. "You and Simmons went through a traumatic experience, and that can change you. She probably isn't the same person you were with at the bottom of the ocean, but you aren't either. People change, and there's not a lot that can be done about it. But we can get to know the new person they are, and maybe even bring back the old one too."

He looked up and smiled at her. "You always know what to say," he said, wrapping his arms around her in a hug.

Skye almost melted in his warm embrace, but wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, Leo, you're great and everything, but you really have to shower. You smell so bad." She pulled away, plugging her nose and waving her hand in front of her. Leo laughed and walked off toward the door.

"Just give Simmons time, okay?" Skye said to him. "She was really worried about you when you were in the coma. She still worries."

Leo nodded and left. When the door slammed shut, Skye set down her water bottle and began to put away the mats, thinking about what Leo said.

There was something off about Simmons these days, and it felt odd. After everything that had happened with Hydra and Garrett and Ward, it was understandable that she could be more closed off and worried. But it felt like there was something more forced about her attitude now. As if she was trying to play a role.

"I'm being paranoid," Skye said aloud to herself, shaking her head. She knew Simmons; they all did. She couldn't hide anything from them, it was just impossible for her.

If you think that Fitz woke up on his own, then Coulson was only dead eight seconds. Muhahaha.

Sooo what do you all think? And who wants to see Ward in this?