Author's Note: Thanks for sticking with this story guys! I never really expected it to get this many views (almost 1,500!) I'm honestly just rolling with the plot and my imagination here. If you have any suggestions, please review or PM me. Until then, here's chapter three. Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. If I did, Skyeward and Fitzsimmons would be married and Miles wouldn't exist.

Chapter Three

Without thinking, I ran towards Agent May and tried to wrestle the equipment from her grasp. No luck. She had at least twenty pounds on me and more arm muscle than the God of Thunder. Her years of tactical skill training were showing. My six days of it were no match. Crap.

"What the hell," I panted, finally giving up. She looked at me smugly. "Get your grubby paws off of my damn stuff. There's a reason for why there is a lock on my door." I was merely stalling at this point. Even with the complex S.H.I.E.L.D. hacking systems, there was no way she could access my files. That was something she was probably not expecting. I knew exactly what she was up to. She suspected something was up at yesterday's meeting with Coulson. The first draft of the initial case report was on my hard drive.

"Locks are quite easy to pick, Skye. You should know that by know. You're supposed to be the professional criminal." That was all it took to set me off. Anger gushed through my body and heat rose to my cheeks. It was all I could do to not scream in her face.

"I, for one, am not a CRIMINAL. I was a hacker, which is completely different. We didn't break laws, we just found loopholes. Second, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s crappy systems can't hack through my firewall. It's encrypted. So there is no need to make those kind of accusations, Agent May." My tone was bitter. She looked slightly taken aback for a brief moment, but then regained her composure.

"That doesn't mean we can't try. I'm taking your computer to Agent Coulson and he'll decide how to proceed."

"Fine," I said sharply. I watched as she walked away.

Fitzsimmons was standing next to me, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Their mouths were gaped open in disbelief.

"Y-y-you," Fitz stammered, "you talked back to Agent May. How did you do that? Nobody on this bus has that courage." He turned to Simmons and attempted to whisper, but failed miserably: "She's got balls."

"Thanks, but yuck," I said loudly, startling him. He hadn't realized that I might have been listening. Simmons laughed. Fitz just looked embarrassed.

"We'd better get back to work," I said to them, waving back towards the now abandoned lab. "Coulson and May can't find us slacking off."

"Agreed," they said in unison.

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When I had finished my lab work for the day, it was back for training with Agent Ward. He probably wouldn't like me calling him that, but the name "Grant" just sounded foreign to me. Less professional, more personal. He was waiting for me by the stairs, looking visibly more relaxed than the last couple of days.

"Ready to go?" he asked, trying to keep the conversation from becoming awkward. There were bags under his eyes and his hands shook slightly, as if he were running on an overdose of caffeine.

"Honestly Ward, I just gotta clear the air here," I started. His eyebrows knit themselves into a scowl as soon as I said his last name and he stopped in his tracks. "May has my computer. Do you know what that has? The first draft of the case file. So I'm praying to God that she doesn't crack my security measures. Because if she does, the whole case will have to be reviewed and we'll be suspended. And I really do not want to be suspended. I'm already on thin ice with Coulson for cutting off my bracelet. I'll be kicked out of S.H.I.E.L.D.!"

"Wait, wait, wait. She took your computer?" Ward sounded like he really didn't believe me but he tried to mask it. "Where is she taking it?"

"To Phi...Agent Coulson," I replied. "I bet that they're looking through it right now. They'll find out that we lied and altered the transcripts." I started to panic right at that moment.

"We have to make sure that they don't find out, Skye! Otherwise Director Fury will be pissed. We might as well be dead." Ward sounded slightly desperate. He finally decided to believe me.

"Will you help me?" I asked, knowing that I was just about to attempt the impossible. He sighed slowly, but then nodded. Oh my God. We took off sprinting the direction of Coulson's office.

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I could hear a slight beeping sound as we approached the office. Ward and I burst through the door at the same time. May and Coulson were gathered around a large screen. Her fingers pressed a few buttons on the control panel. It was a password. She was trying to bypass the security on my laptop. Access denied. It blinked red. She tried this twice, three times, four times. Computer temporarily disabled. She couldn't hack my systems. Yes!

It was then that the two agents finally noticed our presence. Coulson looked like he had been expecting us to burst in the room at any moment, whereas May looked a little peeved. She had just failed trying to access my files, just like I told her she would. I got the feeling that she wouldn't want me saying "I told you so!" to her face.

"So you two decided to turn up," Agent Coulson said, turning his attention back to the control panel. "There's no point in telling you now that S.H.I.E.L.D. is launching a full secondary investigation into Monday's case. You already knew that. It's questionable what they will find. Perhaps Skye's files can give us a few answers, hm?"

There was nothing I could do but stare, not defending myself. "Skye, save us the trouble and please enter your pass codes," May directed, pointing to a small and delicate looking keyboard that she was just using.

"Yeah, no," I retorted. Ward's eyes met mine for a second. Ever so slightly, he nodded his head, seeming to approve of my answer. The corner of his mouth twitched into a tiny smile. "Technically, I don't take direct orders from S.H.I.E.L.D., so I don't have to answer to you."

"You are a S.H.I.E.L.D. consultant," Coulson said firmly. "And you will do whatever any of your superiors want you to do. Do I have to get Director Fury involved in this situation? Because I can assure you that we are very close friends. He's just a phone call away."

Ward shifted uncomfortably. He was intimidated by Director Fury, even though he didn't say so out loud. For a moment I thought I could hear his voice inside my head. 'Just do it. We have nothing to lose now.' Sighing, I stepped towards the board and rapidly punched in my code, making sure that Coulson or May didn't see. FlyingSkyeward122. It was just a little embarrassing. I stepped away quickly and resumed my spot next to my S.O., so fast that neither of them could thank me.

Within seconds, Agent May pulled up the initial draft of the case file. Silently, she and Coulson read over the transcript carefully. They neared the last page, the one that contained the truth. My heart was pounding.

Agent Ward: Go ahead Skye.

Skye: Tell me why Rising Tide sent you after me, Miles. Was it so they could have access to S.H.I.E.L.D.? Did you seduce me and then send me in to clear a path so that you could hack into their systems and swipe their data?

Lethal force deployed. Subject neutralized.

Coulson and May finished reading. Very slowly, they turned to face me. I couldn't read their faces. They remained unmoving. Right then and there, I realized that I would never, ever, be the same person I once was.