Hello, I'm back with a new chapter. I'm so happy that you guys are enjoying this fanfiction.
Skye is 3-years-old
Question everything
Coulson was helping Skye dress in her pyjamas to go to bed when his phone rang. He ran to get it; night calls were never good thing. He was right. It was from SHIELD. Alexander Pierce himself was requesting Coulson's attendance to his office in the Triskelion; urgent matters that couldn't be discussed over the phone. As it was an urgent call, Coulson couldn't wait for an agent to come and stay with Skye, so he had to take her with him. He met her in her bedroom; she was already tucked to bed, even though she wasn't fully wearing her pyjamas.
"Sorry, Skye, but no sleeping," he said, uncovering her and stripping off her partial pyjamas while in the search for her clothes. "Dad has to go to SHIELD and you have to come."
"Why?"
"Because I got a call and we really have to go."
"Why?"
"Because we do," Coulson spoke hurriedly, trying to fit her inside her sweater. For some odd reason Skye was actively resisting, "Skye, can you please help me?" Skye pouted and folded her arms so that Coulson couldn't put her sweater on, "Don't be so grumpy, Skye. Come on, help me out. We have to leave."
After a few minutes of struggling, Coulson managed to dress her up, but she was still grumpy. He could understand that she was sleepy, but he had no other solution at the time. Once he had gathered his things, he turned and saw that Skye was going through her few toys.
"We don't have time to get a toy."
"Why?"
Coulson sighed and rubbed his forehead; Skye hadn't moved an inch from where she was standing. "We have to go." He walked with long strides to her and picked her up in his arms, despite her kicking. Before leaving, Coulson walked to the couch and picked up her brown teddy bear.
"You can take Leo."
Skye grabbed the teddy bear and threw it on the floor. Coulson bent down and picked it up anyway.
He made his way to the garage with quick steps and then put Skye on the ground as he looked for his badge, which he was hoping he hadn't forgotten in the apartment. "Get in Lola."
The toddler reluctantly opened the passenger's door and climbed onto the seat. Once Coulson had entered the car as well, he fastened Skye's seatbelt and activated Lola's hovering capability.
"Why you call her Lola?" the little girl asked.
"That was the name she had when she was given to me."
"Why?"
It was a short ride, but Skye was so grumpy and sleepy that she made sure to question everything that Coulson would – and wouldn't – answer. At some point, it turned quite bothersome. Coulson was already stressed out by the whole situation and Skye made it her top priority to, for lack of a better word, annoy him to death.
Skye's grumpiness had eased down once they arrived at the Triskelion, but she still fussed sleepily. Though Coulson's patience was wearing thin, he picked her up and carried her inside. She was a ball of constant energy, curious and smart, and he had learnt to live with it.
Before entering Pierce's office, he told her, "Now when we go in you must be quiet, ok, Skye? This is a very important thing dad has to do, alright?"
This time Skye didn't come up with another question and only nodded.
"I told you to come alone," Pierce said once he saw Skye.
"This was a last minute call, Sir. I had nobody to stay with her. Besides," Coulson sat Skye on the chair in front of Pierce's desk, "she's three-years-old; how much can she understand?"
Pierce had to agree with Coulson. That being the case, he began to explain why he was there. "There's a suspicious facility in Montreal, Canada, that SHIELD is taking particular interest in. We don't know much about it, but we'd like to know if it is one of Red Room's divisions. If it is, we need a plan to enter and dismantle their program. Fury keeps on bragging about how a great tactician you are, so prove it to me."
"The Red Room is a Soviet/KGB super-science division whose job is to make super-spies. The Black Widow - Natalia Romanoff - was one of the spies they trained. Why don't you ask her about it for more info?"
"We did, actually, but she says doesn't know. Can you blame her though? She was severely brainwashed multiple times, and so far has proven to be mentally unstable. Besides, she was nothing more than a pawn for the Soviets; she wouldn't know big bold moves like these." Pierce put a file over the desk, directly in front of Coulson, explaining the details. "The very little we do know about the facility is in there. Make it count, Coulson. Our tactical teams leave at 0400 today."
Coulson opened the file and saw that it contained no more than ten pages, most of it bad satellite images and approximate calculations of the dimensions of the site. What SHIELD knew was very little indeed, but what he was given access to was even less. The agent could only read 5 to 6 lines of a page, hidden between the thick black lines crossing out the rest of the document.
"Sir, I need more solid information, and considerably more time. I need to know what," Coulson brought attention to a page where only the header was visible, "this 'MK Ultra' is. I need to know what we are dealing with so I can develop a safe and effective plan for our agents."
"If you act like Fury leads people to believe you do, I don't see this being a problem, Agent Coulson." Pierce turned his back to Coulson and walked to the window, clearly ignoring what he had asked. "In two hours 5 tactical teams will be waiting for briefing in Operations."
Coulson sighed, closed the file, and called, "Come on, Skye, let's go."
Skye slid down from the chair she was sitting on and came to hold Coulson's hand as the two walked out of Pierce's office.
Once they were outside, Skye immediately asked, "Why he not tell you 'bout the mission?"
"Because only level 8 agents can know, and I'm only level 6."
"Why?"
"I don't know why I'm still level 6, Skye, but I'm working to be better." Coulson guided her to the elevator so the two could go down to the cafeteria. "And if one thing is sure, Skye, if I can't know, then there must be a good reason. I trust the system."
There was only the two of them sitting at the cafeteria tables. Sometimes one person would walk in, but leave shortly after. Skye was still quiet but with an inquisitive look, paying attention to her father's concentration. He seemed upset and he was mumbling things to himself, flipping through the pages over and over again.
Coulson couldn't think of a plan. He didn't have solid information and he was sure that he wouldn't be able to come up with a plan of invasion that would be secure or successful. He didn't know, and apparently neither did SHIELD, what to expect. And so he came to the conclusion that, like Skye, he must ask the questions, even if he wasn't supposed to. He had to be curious for the sake of the agents that would go in on the offensive.
"I'm hungry."
"Hi hungry, I'm dad," Coulson joked as a way to relieve his own tension. Skye didn't find it half as amusing as he did. "You're hungry?" The girl replied with an affirmative nod. "Alright, so why don't we go grab something to eat?" He spared a glance at the greasy, tasteless cafeteria food. "I'm sure that there's a diner open nearby."
Coulson pulled out his phone to call an acquaintance he knew from town, sticking the file under his arm and walking hand in hand with Skye towards the car. They hopped in Lola and Coulson only had to drive for a few minutes before coming across an open diner.
They entered and chose a table at the end of the empty eatery, away from the windows. A short, blonde waitress came to take their order right away. Coulson asked for a cup of coffee and Skye wanted to eat chocolate pancakes, despite the late hour; Coulson exceptionally accepted it and the waitress left their table.
Once their order arrived, Coulson started, "A friend of dad's is coming. He's… he's a man like me, understand?"
"He's SHIELD too?" Skye spoke a little too loud, making Coulson almost cover her mouth with his hand, but once he looked at the waitress he realized she hadn't heard anything.
"No, he works for another agency. But you know what to do, don't you?"
Skye nodded her head while stuffing her mouth with the pancake. "Sing rweally loud in ma head."
Isaac Dewey, CIA, walked in, then. Suspiciously looking at every corner, he walked with small but quick steps towards Coulson. He was a tall man, black haired and icy-blue eyed, dressed in a full black-suit and shinning, polished shoes in the same color.
"Kinda late for you to call me, Phil."
"You owe me, no questions asked, Isaac." Coulson skipped the chitchat and presented him the file. "I need to know what you guys know about this." Dewey swallowed a ball of nervousness when he opened the file and read MK Ultra. Coulson realized it, "It's yours, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's ours," Dewey told him in a whisper. "What is your interest in it?"
"SHIELD wants to knock on the front door and say hello. They had me preparing the tactical operation, thinking this is a KGB base or something. They'll still want to know what is it that you do there; whatever it is, it got on our radars."
"I can't tell you that, Coulson. It will put me in great trouble." Coulson only gave him a look that disarmed Dewey; he'd get in trouble whether he'd speak or not. "Mind Control Ultra, that's what it is. We do human research operations, experimenting in the behavioral engineering of humans. We use numerous methodologies to manipulate people's mental states and alter brain functions. Most of them are conducted without the subjects' knowledge or consent. You can imagine if this gets out there –"
"I'll make sure to keep this a secret. Thanks for your time, Isaac."
The CIA man stared at Coulson, but he was completely focused on Skye already. Dewey got up and left and it didn't take long for Coulson and Skye to leave after the little one finished her pancakes.
It was time to brief the tactical teams when Coulson arrived at the Triskelion again. He found himself like a headless chicken, looking around; he wouldn't take Skye to Operations that day. He saw Agent May walking towards them, wearing a small smile on her face when her eyes met Coulson's.
"Hey," she greeted him with a discreet kiss on the cheek. "Here for the Montreal mission too? It's been a while since we last worked a mission together."
"I agree. I miss field action with you, May. But today I'm just the tactician guy."
"Well, see you in there, then."
Once May had entered Operations, Coulson felt his heart pounding slightly faster, but ignored it, saying to Skye, "Let's find someone to stay with you for a little."
He ended up leaving her with a geeky scientist who took her to the lab and showed her all the 'cool stuff', as she called it.
When Coulson entered the Operations room, everybody was waiting on him, including Pierce, who started, "Agent Phil Coulson was left in charge of tactical planning. He will brief you on today's Op."
"Um, no I won't." Pierce gave Coulson an icy glare, and he wouldn't put it past the superior agent to kill him right then and there. "MK Ultra is a CIA project, specializing on human behavior research. I don't think SHIELD wants to cause unnecessary trouble with the CIA, and not to mention with the Canadian government for trampling through their soil like that." Coulson ended saying, "I have a reliable contact in the CIA; I know for sure that my information is correct."
Pierce was still not pleased with Coulson's decision. "The mission is on hold until you receive further orders. You're all dismissed." All the Operation's agents walked out but Coulson, knowing that Pierce would want a few words with him. He was still really pissed at Coulson and told him with some asperity, "I thought you were Fury's lapdog."
"Even lapdogs learn new tricks," Coulson simply told him on his way out.
It was past 2 AM already when Coulson picked up Skye from the lab. She was still awake and still sleepy. They were going home but Coulson had to take her somewhere first. He got down on one knee and kept his arm around her waist as the two looked at the Wall of Valor.
"You know what this is, Skye?" The toddler shook her head, not knowing the answer. "This is the Wall of Valor. All these names here are the names of the agents of SHIELD who gave their lives in the service of humanity. They are heroes. If it wasn't for you and your immense curiosity, soon someone would be adding more names."
"What I do wrong?" Skye was saddened; she couldn't understand what she could have possibly done so that no more heroic names would be put on the wall.
"You did nothing wrong, Skye. You helped dad saving agents' lives."
"Daddy save the day," she cheered with a smile.
"Yes," Coulson got up on his feet and picked her up in arms, "daddy saved the day with your help."
Skye was only three-years-old. She couldn't tell the difference between number 6 and number 9, but she knew the difference between good and bad and could recite in detail Captain America's story. And that was all thanks to her father. "Daddy is a hero. Better than Captain America," she whispered as she succumbed to sleep, laying her head on his shoulder.
When he put her in the car, already sleeping, he cuddled Leo to her chest and drove home. They could both use the night of sleep.
On a little final note: the MK Ultra thing is all real.