Melinda looked up at the Bus, trying to hide how impressed she was. It was nice. Really nice. She could pull off some great manoeuvres with those engines. She knew that Phil was trying to sneak up on her and rolled her eyes. "Pretty nice, right?" He said.
"It's fine." May said, walking towards the ramp. She didn't like pushing him out. But she needed to.
Coulson sighed, watching her go. He knew it wouldn't be easy getting her to open up. It had been years. But maybe this plane and these kids could be the answer.
May watched the two bicker as she walked up the ramp. Christ, these kids were green. They might have been eight years old for their behaviour, demeanour, their smiles. Her kids.
No. They weren't her kids. They were just kids.
She swallowed, walking into the lab with enough noise to alert them. Both instantly quietened, looking at her for instruction. This was going to be hard.
Simmons spoke first. "Oh!" She said, bright as the sun, "You must be Agent May! It's lovely to meet you, I'm Jemma Simmons." She shook her hand. May had trouble meeting her eyes. The eyes that she knew she would recognise.
May shook her hand, quickly letting go. "I understand you two haven't been cleared for combat."
Jemma froze, shooting Fitz a look. "Well, no, but I'm sure we'll manage." She tried not to sound annoyed.
Fitz cleared his throat, "Yeah, and we'll be plenty useful, we've actually been developing this new weapon for in the field, if you'd like to test it,"
"We'd very much appreciate any feedback." Jemma completed.
Melinda said nothing, instead opting to quirk an eyebrow. She then turned and left. Those two were finishing each others sentences? Was that because of their connection, or just because they were already that close? She'd heard other agents talk about them, the youngest graduates ever from sci-tech. Fitzsimmons. Like they were one person.
This wasn't going to be easy.
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Skye pocketed the ID she had swiped off 'Mike'. This was interesting. Superpowered guy, but not interested in being noticed? What was he hiding? Not that it mattered. He was going to be taken in by SHIELD soon enough.
But not before she was, and maybe she could protect him from them.
Skye booted up let laptop, leaving her van door unlocked so that they wouldn't break it when they busted her. She caught a brief feeling of... excitement? She shouldn't feel excited. She wasn't. She was mad, frustrated, but on the brink of maybe being able to get some answers.
And angry. Really angry at SHIELD, as usual.
Skye shook herself and opened her usual programs. This wasn't the time for this. She had more important things to do.
"How will you come at us? From the air? From the ground? How will you silence us this time?"
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Coulson approached the nondescript van, catching May's eye and the black bag in her hand. He hoped this hacker would come quietly. It was hard enough to convince May to come back into the field. He was pretty sure half the reason she agreed was because she was squirrelly about his near death experience.
In the old days he would be able to know how she was feeling without guessing. No matter the distance, no matter what. He would just know, and he would be able to help, to understand. That was what their cluster was. What every cluster was. Understanding. Connection.
She shot him a look, and he nodded, pulling the door open, interrupting the girl mid-sentence. "Hey," She said, trying for casual and failing pretty appallingly, "What up?"
Coulson caught May's eye on the drive back to the Bus. They couldn't talk with the girl listening in, but at the same time they needed to talk. Now. He just hoped she would let him in.
"Did you feel it?" He asked across their connection, unable to be heard by anyone but their own cluster. He knew that Melinda did feel the snap of connection with the girl.
"Yes." May replied tersely. "This just got a lot more complicated."
"Is she one of yours?"
Even through May's barriers, Coulson felt the contempt for the term. "I didn't mean- it's just for convenience May. Is she in Fitzsimmons' cluster?"
She sighed. "Yes. The computer I saw when they- it was hers."
He grimaced. "Great."
"I know."
"I mean, the odds of them being SHIELD agents is slim, I get that, but a rising tide hacker?" He groaned. "What are we gonna do?"
Melinda rolled her eyes. "Interrogate her."
"Then what?"
She shrugged. "We'll see. She doesn't know us, and if we play it right she could be long gone before she figures out who Fitzsimmons are."
He looked at her, driving their SUV. "You really think that's a good idea?"
"Maybe."
The bag was very intentionally left on as they led the girl to the interrogation room, ignoring Fitzsimmons' stares. Thankfully they didn't say anything. At least they had that much common sense.
May left Coulson to his questioning and went to the cockpit. She needed to breathe. Clear her head of all of these people trying to get in. She couldn't let them in.
Any of them.
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Skye scowled at the man before her. He looked like he was trying to intimidate her. He didn't know that he couldn't take anything from her that SHIELD hadn't already stolen. "You're making a big mistake." She said, brushing her hair out of her face.
Coulson cocked his head. "Somehow I don't think so." He said. "What's your name?" He asked softly.
She shifted. "Skye." She said haltingly.
He nodded. "Thank you. There's one other name we need, then you can go on your way. A certain hero."
Skye swallowed, suddenly wondering if she wasn't in over her head. "What makes you think I know that?"
Coulson smiled, sitting down. "Well, you made a little mistake. The phone you filmed the hooded hero on had the same signature as some of the rising tide's posts. Our scientists traced it as soon as they noticed." He tested the waters, seeing how she would react.
Skye hid her surprise. SHIELD scientists. Like those two she'd seen the week before in the lab that couldn't exist. She smirked. "Oh yeah. Was that a mistake, or am I now in your secret headquarters? And we both know you can't beat the encryption on my stuff so sorry, you've got nothing!"
Coulson wasn't fazed. "We've got information. That you were on the scene right before the building went up. That you've been tracking this guy." He gestured to the pictures. "We just want to help him. He could very well be in danger."
"From who?" Skye asked, failing to keep her temper. "Tell me, who could do more damage to someone's life than SHIELD? All you do is cover things up, like New Mexico, project pegasus, of course you'd cover up centipede!"
He raised an eyebrow. "Centipede?"
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May watched Fitz and Simmons work the scene, secretly impressed. They'd never been in the field before, yet both of them were showing a lot of promise. Their professionalism needed work, but Simmons had immediately started working on the closest cadaver, and Fitz's drones were... useful to say the least.
Those two would be an asset to any cluster.
"So why not tell them?" Izzy appeared beside her, but Melinda made no reaction. "You could help. We all could."
"They need to figure it out for themselves."
Izzy rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, I remember how Peggy let us roam around and 'figure it out' ourselves for ages before she told us what the hell was going on." She said sarcastically.
"Leave it alone."
"Fine." Izzy muttered, "But I won't for long. Neither will the others, you know they won't. These kids need you Melinda. You can't shut them out forever."
May bit back a retort, opting instead to talk to the kids. "Ready to go?"
Fitz looked up, "Yeah, almost." He said, "Just gotta put these away."
"Good, let's make a move."
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Skye watched with veiled horror as Mike tore apart the factory he used to work at. "This isn't him." She said, "This isn't the guy I met, he just-" She sighed, "He just needs a break."
"Then give him one." Coulson said gently. "We can help. What have you got?"
Hesitantly, Skye drew the ID out of her pocket.
"Thank you." Coulson said, taking it. He opened the comm link to the SUV. "Guys, can get back here as soon as possible?"
"Faster than that." May's voice replied, sounding somewhat annoyed at the scientific jabbering going on in her back seat.
Coulson grinned.
Skye cocked her head. "Your girlfriend?" She asked.
He raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.
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Skye watched as the woman from earlier entered the conference room. She looked vaguely familiar. Like she'd seen her in a dream. Skye shook it off. Probably nothing. She must have seen her face when she was hacking through SHIELD's personnel files.
The two behind her, however, she could not mistake anywhere.
Skye balked, noting that they did too. "Who the hell are you?!" She asked, gaping.
Fitz looked around, noting that Coulson and May didn't even seem to notice their conversation. "What do you mean who the hell are we, who the hell are you?!"
Skye scowled, getting ahold of herself somewhat. "I'm Skye, your SHIELD goons just kidnapped me."
Jemma rolled her eyes, "Oh honestly, that's a little dramatic."
"They put a bag over my head! You know what, never mind, what's going on?!" Skye asked, "Why can't they hear us?"
Jemma and Fitz looked around, "I think we must have some kind of psychic connection." Jemma speculated.
"Yeah, triggered that day in the lab," Fitz completed, "When you were with Doctor Newling."
Jemma stared. "You saw that too? I thought I was going mad."
"Guys?" Coulson's voice interrupted. "You with us?"
Jemma shook herself, "Yes, of course, sorry sir."
He nodded. "Skye, this Agents Fitz and Simmons, you've already met Agent May." May gave her a curt nod which Skye was tempted to mock.
"Fitz what do we have from the security footage before the blast?" Coulson asked, walking around the table.
Fitz tapped at the holotable, bringing up the picture from the fried cameras. "What are we seeing?" May asked.
Fitz pointed. "Well, the man is angry. At the other man."
Coulson bit back a smile seeing how May glared. Fitz seemed to sense that he hadn't given the answer they were after. "The data's really corrupt, this is all we could get from it. We can't synch the time code."
"What if you had the audio?" Skye asked, drawing their stares. She shifted awkwardly. "I had my van monitoring the place before it went up, I couldn't get the background noise out, but you guys could do that, right?" She tried not to make it sound like she already knew. She did though, somehow.
The two looked at each other. "Yeah, that'd be great." Fitz said, trying to make sure he said it out loud.
Coulson watched them. "Your van's here. But you're right, we couldn't beat the encryption."
Skye smiled, proud that they couldn't get in. "It's tied to the GPS," She explained, "I just need to get my van back to that alley and I can send the audio file across."
"Agent May can escort you." Coulson said, ignoring the annoyance he could feel May projecting.
Skye shot a look at Agent May. Now she wasn't sure if she'd seen her in the personnel files, or if it wasn't something else after all.
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Skye tapped at her laptop, listening for May's movements. Damn that woman was quiet. "That should do it!" She said, surreptitiously slipping her micro-SD card into her bra. Hopefully no one would notice it. Hopefully she could keep it from Fitz and Simmons, though that might be harder than she thought.
"Let's head back." May said briskly. She reached for the van door when a figure jumped down behind her. She yelped, trying to find purchase on something before she was thrown into a wall.
Skye yelped. That hurt.
Wait, what? "Mike, what are you doing?"
"Saving you." Mike said, climbing into the van, "And now you're going to save us."
Great.
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Skye had to admit that she was warming to SHIELD more and more as she saw how much Mike was losing it. He needed help, and despite his unsettling smile, she thought that Coulson actually wanted to help him.
Though she was starting to regret getting involved when it came to the injuries, the weird psychic connection with a couple of scientists that happened to be projecting nothing but anxiety right now, and the life threatening danger.
Still, it wasn't as bad as when some guy started shooting at her and Mike, resulting in Mike falling down into the dais. He looked okay though. Good for him. Now she was stuck with the guy with the gun, and it was pointed right at her.
Before Skye could even move, May ran up behind the guy, carrying a large gun. She immediately dropped it, kicking the back of his knee to throw him off balance, wrenching the gun from his grip, and knocking him out, faster than Skye could follow.
She met Skye's eyes, and there was something there. Not quite a connection like she'd had with Fitzsimmons, but... something odd. May picked up her rifle. "Move over." She instructed, setting it up.
Skye did so, catching her breath. "Uuh, thanks." She said softly.
"Don't mention it."
"A-are you going to kill him?" Skye wasn't sure if she could watch that. She didn't think she could let May do it.
May tapped at her comm and smiled ever so slightly. "Apparently not."
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Skye walked back to the car feeling better than she had in a long time. "It's a brave new world! And a really old car."
Coulson smiled that smile that made her think he knew more than he was letting on. "Lola can keep up." He got in, Skye sitting in the passenger seat. "What about you? Did you think about the offer?"
Yes. "Joining your band of merry agents? I'm not really a team player."
He shrugged. "We're not really a team. Not yet. But we can do some good, and that does seem like your style. You'd be a great help, and you'd get to be front row for some of the craziest stuff on earth."
Oh you have no idea. Skye thought.