Ward stood over Fitz as he worked on the computer. "Nothing?"
Fitz shook his head. "It's like she's vanished. I've monitored all the video feeds from traffic cameras near Queen Consolidated. She hasn't been there. I haven't seen her on any feeds in the Glades either. A lot of the security feeds around town have been knocked offline though. Traffic cameras are still working, but there aren't as many of those in the Glades."
"What about Felicity's house or Verdant?" May asked.
"Nothing near her home, and no traffic cameras are operational near Verdant. I think the club's security is online but I can't get through their firewalls," Fitz said, clearly disgruntled by that fact. "I suspect Felicity is responsible for that."
Simmons was looking at the photos of Felicity and Skye on her monitor. "Skye was so cute when she was little. It's obvious that she and Felicity were very close. I wonder why she never mentioned her friend."
Ward had looked at the photos for hours the previous evening, and he knew she was right. "She never said anything for the same reason that everyone here is lying about Skye. Skye didn't want SHIELD to know anything about Felicity."
"You think May is right then?" Simmons asked sadly. "She doesn't trust us."
"Not enough." And maybe they were all a little to blame for that. He didn't know what to think anymore.
"Maybe I should go with you to Queen Consolidated," Simmons said.
Coulson had entered the room as Jemma spoke. He shook his head. "No. I need you and Fitz to stay on the trail of the Canary since May didn't have any luck tracking her last night. She, Bobbi and Hunter are sweeping the city now. We also need to get to the bottom of these blackouts because the less chaos in Starling City, the better our chances of finding Skye. Half the city's cameras being down doesn't help."
Simmons nodded reluctantly and turned her computer back to schematics of the power grid she'd been studying. "The progress is slow without Skye. If you can get Felicity to help us, it would go much faster. I have many skills, and I've picked up a little from Skye, but Fitz and I aren't hackers."
"She's brilliant," Coulson agreed. "SHIELD was interested in recruiting her after she was ranked second in the National Informative Technology Competition at age 19. We have a small file on her. But she was very anti-government and anti-corporation at the time, so Hill never followed through with the recruitment."
"Something she and Skye had in common," Ward said. "Do we have a meeting time yet?"
"We have an appointment in thirty minutes, very grudgingly given after I advised them we have a federal warrant." When Ward raised his brows, Coulson said, "I'm the director of SHIELD. We might be underground, but I still have a few strings I can pull."
"Are you sure that forcing your way in is the best way to get her to talk?" Fitz asked, looking worried. "I wouldn't help anyone who forced their way into SHIELD."
"I'll worry about that once I'm able to talk to her. We won't accomplish anything if she keeps evading us." Coulson looked over at Ward. "Let's go."
It was a short drive to Queen Consolidated. When they walked into the atrium downstairs, they were vetted by security before being escorted up to the executive floor and into a small conference room. After a few minutes, Oliver Queen walked in followed by Mr. Diggle, Felicity Smoak, and surprisingly, Laurel Lance.
Ward took a moment to study Felicity. With her sleek, blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and dark rimmed glasses perched on her nose, she bore little resemblance to the Goth girl from the video. Still, he knew a good wig and makeup could have transformed her easily enough. He noted that she was observing them just as carefully.
Ms. Lance spoke first. "Mr. Grant. Before we get started, I'd like to see this warrant."
When Coulson looked over at Ward, he explained. "She's Laurel Lance, the A.D.A. I met with yesterday."
"I would expect to see general counsel here, not the A.D.A.," Coulson remarked as he passed her the warrant.
"And I would expect the courtesy of a phone call before delivering a federal warrant in my city," she replied as she scanned the document. "Judge Watkins signed off on this. He's being investigated for accepting bribes from the Triad. I can have this thrown out in an hour."
Ward wasn't surprised. While SHIELD didn't concern themselves with dirty politics, they did occasionally benefit from a dirty politician or judge. This was especially true since they'd been forced underground in their fight with Hydra.
"We're not here to serve a warrant," Coulson said mildly. "We're only here to talk, and I'm afraid we won't be leaving Starling City without the woman we're looking for."
"And I told you that I don't know anyone named Skye," Oliver said abruptly.
"No, but Ms. Smoak knows Skye very well. Or should I say Mary Sue Poots?"
Ward watched Felicity closely. She looked startled to suddenly be included in the conversation, but she held onto her composure. "I can't help you. And if that warrant is worthless, then I think this meeting is over."
She and Oliver stood up, and Coulson and Ward followed them out.
"Ms. Smoak, I think you should hear us out." Coulson held out a tablet to Felicity, who took it with obvious reluctance.
Ward wasn't prepared for the complete change in her demeanor when she saw the photos. She was angry and frightened, that much was evident, but she stalked up to Coulson and slammed the tablet into his chest with enough force that Coulson winced.
"You broke into my mother's house?" she demanded. "If you hurt her…"
"She wasn't at home," Coulson assured her. "We know that you're the friend Skye came here to see, and we know that she was with you a few nights ago. We found video footage of one of the power surges. Skye fought off your attackers."
"All these photos prove is that I used to know her," she said. "And even if I knew where she was? I wouldn't tell you."
Ward finally spoke up. "You have no idea who you're dealing with here." And she didn't. Hydra had Skye's photo, courtesy of Raina. If Hydra somehow found her first, they might never see her again.
"Oh I know exactly who I'm dealing with," she replied angrily. "Director Coulson. Agent Ward. You're the people responsible for her getting shot. You lied to her. You broke her heart. I don't know where she is right now, but I will never help you find her. If you think I'm bluffing, then you don't know who you're dealing with."
That boiling anger and frustration bubbled up, too close to the surface for Ward's comfort. He pushed those feelings aside even as he stepped forward, towering over Felicity. "You're going to get her killed if you don't help us. We know that she was attacked in an alley outside Verdant two nights ago. Have you seen her since then?"
Oliver suddenly moved between them, effectively blocking Felicity as he stood eye level with Ward. "Leave. Now."
Everything about Oliver's stance belied the playboy vibe he'd given off the day before. He looked dangerous, and Ward didn't doubt that he was, but he refused to budge. Instead he sized him up as an opponent, ready to engage if necessary.
"Ward," Coulson said sharply. "Stand down."
Ward kept his eyes on Oliver for another minute before reluctantly backing up to stand beside Coulson. Oliver maintained his protective stance in front of Felicity until she moved around him and placed a hand on his arm in a calming gesture.
"You obviously know more than you're telling us," Coulson finally said. "I know you don't believe me, but we're not here to hurt Skye. You need to understand that the next people who come looking for her will do more than hurt her."
"I think it's time for you to leave," Ms. Lance said. "Mr. Diggle can show you out."
"We're not your enemy," Coulson told Felicity. He held out a card. "If you change your mind and want to talk, this is how you can reach me. Like I said, we aren't leaving until we find her."
Everything about her posture and expression was hostile, and she ignored the offered card. After glancing over at Felicity, Ms. Lance reached out and took it.
"I'm assuming you're not actually with Homeland," Ms. Lance said. "But it doesn't really matter which agency you're with. If you have any further questions, they should be addressed to Mr. Queen's legal counsel. And if you're planning to serve any more bogus warrants, or if you harass Ms. Smoak or Mr. Queen further? I'll happily ask Captain Lance to find accommodations for you at the Starling City jail."
"That won't be necessary," Coulson said.
He nodded to Ward, and they followed Mr. Diggle to the elevator. Once inside, Coulson looked over at the large, silent man. "I don't suppose you'd like to tell us anything?"
Mr. Diggle ignored him until they reached the lobby. "The door is that way. Have a nice stay in Starling City."
Coulson sighed. "That's what I thought."
Outside, Ward turned to Coulson. "She's been in SHIELD's servers."
"Probably. I suppose it's possible that Skye told her some things, but I think she's seen our files and photos, which means she could start tracking the team. The only bright side is that half the cameras in the city being offline will hinder her as much as it has us. I hate to say it, but Fitz might have been right about the way we approached her." Coulson shook his head. "Let's get back to the hotel."
Fitz and Simmons weren't any closer to finding Skye or the vigilantes when they returned, and Fitz grumbled about a lost opportunity under his breath as Coulson admitted the meeting with Felicity didn't go well.
"It's possible that Felicity is also looking for Skye," Coulson said. "When we first found out about her, it occurred to me that she might be the technology expert suspected of assisting the city's vigilantes. Now I'm not so sure because I don't think she'd protect anyone who hurt Skye. I hoped she might help us track them since they're proving difficult to find."
"They're a bit all over the place because of the blackouts," Simmons explained. "Before there were areas they were sighted in more often, but now I can't find a pattern. I think the best course of action is to follow the violence."
"We have this." Fitz held up something that looked like a dart gun. "If you can hit them with a dart, it will implant a subcutaneous tracker. They won't even know they've been tagged."
Ward knew Fitz had been working on the trackers for a few months, but he didn't realize he'd finished them. "Good. That might work. I'll go out with May tonight and concentrate on the neighborhoods near Verdant. Bobbi and Hunter can take the other areas where the vigilantes have been sighted."
It was still early afternoon, and Ward was too restless to sit and watch FitzSimmons going through data. Unfortunately there was nothing they could do except wait.
Felicity paced in the office as Oliver tried to calm her down. "Felicity, we need to talk about this."
"I know, I'm just… trying to think," she replied. She took off her glasses and pressed her fingers to her temples.
"You knew who they were when they came in," Laurel said. She took Felicity's arm and guided her over to the sofa before sitting beside her. "Felicity, we can't help if we're all in the dark, and they're just going to keep blindsiding us."
Felicity could feel the tears coming, and she took a deep breath as she tried to get herself under control. "This is my fault. I did something because I thought I could make them think she was dead, and then they'd leave her alone. I even left a false trail at the city morgue – a record of a Jane Doe matching her description, whose body was claimed by people with false identification."
"You thought that would give them another trail to follow," Laurel said. "Felicity, who are these people?"
Felicity looked up at Oliver. "They're with SHIELD. The bracelet she's wearing is a tracking system. She modified it to bounce the signal after she left, making it look like she was still at their base when she was really here. I disabled it after her run-in with Nyssa in the alley, and I let them find the video that Sara told me about."
"SHIELD is the agency that Lyla mentioned the other night," Oliver said. "I thought they chased UFOs. Why are they looking for Skye?"
"That's something Skye would have to agree to tell you. Please don't tell her about them being here. Not yet. I need time to talk to her and tell her what I did." Skye wouldn't be happy about it. She knew that much, and she was still afraid that Skye might decide to leave with them, if only because she thought it would be safer for Felicity.
"Where is Skye now?" he asked.
"With Thea. We didn't tell her about Agent Ward coming around looking for her yesterday." Thea had told Felicity she thought keeping the secret was dangerous, but she'd agreed to stay with Skye and review the club's books from home while Skye worked on the blackout issues.
"We won't say anything yet," Oliver agreed. "But we can't help if we don't know what's going on. What about the other people they said might come looking for Skye?"
"Hydra."
God, what if she'd led them to Skye? She hadn't even considered that when she'd spontaneously trended the video. She'd hoped that SHIELD would investigate, find the morgue reports, and follow that trail until it went cold. Then she'd planned to have Skye cut ties with the agency, either via message that Felicity herself could answer, or without any explanation at all when they never came looking for her.
"They're the terrorist group that was in the news – the ones who attacked the Triskelion in D.C.," Diggle said, his expression uneasy. "Felicity, this is a hell of a thing to be hiding from us."
"I know, but you'll understand if I can convince her to trust you all with the whole story," Felicity said.
"Fine. Laurel, can you drive Felicity back to the apartment? I'll finish up some things and meet you there this evening."
Felicity was quiet as Laurel drove her to Thea's building. When they pulled up outside the entrance, Laurel turned to her. "Don't worry too much. I'll be back around five, and I'll bring dinner for everyone. How does Chinese sound?"
She smiled. "It sounds good."
Skye sat out on the balcony with Felicity. "I don't know, Felicity. The more people we tell, the more dangerous it could be for all of you."
"Skye, you know their secrets now. And I'm worried about the fact that Raina told Hydra about you. They have your file, and they know what you look like. I know you've been scrubbing yourself from the Internet, but if they see you, just once, they could come here looking for you."
Felicity had looked guilty from the moment she walked in earlier. Skye felt her suspicions growing. "Felicity, what did you do?"
"Nothing… much." She was twisting her fingers together. "I trended the video of you in the alley before I took it offline."
"You what? Why would you do that?" Skye asked.
"Because I was hoping they'd all think you were dead, okay? I left a false paper trail at the morgue, complete with paper records courtesy of Barry. The body of a Jane Doe matching your description was brought in that night, and it was claimed by agents using false identification. The trail would go cold after they left the city. And I disabled your bracelet."
"Oh, Felicity," Skye groaned, glaring at her. "I told you not to interfere."
"I know, but I really think I showed a lot of restraint. I thought about having Barry break into your secret base, load a data-wiping virus onto their system, and steal the Obelisk and all of your paper records on the way out."
"You hacked SHIELD? After you promised me that you wouldn't do that?"
Skye was angry, and she tried to hold onto that anger, but Felicity looked so miserable that it was hard to stay mad at her.
"I could say I'm sorry, but I'm not," Felicity finally said. "I'm sorry that I broke a promise, but if it were me, what would you do? Would you just ignore a threat and let me face it alone?"
No, she wouldn't. If it was Felicity in trouble, she'd cheat, lie and steal if she had to in order to protect her friend. She could hardly fault Felicity for doing the same. And no one had come looking yet, so it was possible that no one had seen the video before Felicity took it offline.
Still, she knew Felicity was right. If she was planning to stay in Starling City, she needed to be up front with Oliver and his team about the potential risk. "Okay."
A few hours later, the doorbell rang.
"That's probably Laurel, Sara and Nyssa," Felicity explained as she crossed the room to open the door.
Skye stood up as they entered the room. She hadn't officially met Nyssa, but Felicity had told her what happened in the alley. She remembered hearing Coulson talk about the League of Assassins when the super soldiers attacked the city. After greeting Laurel and Sara, she turned to Nyssa and nodded.
Nyssa stepped forward. "I am Nyssa, daughter of Ra's al Ghul, heir to the demon."
Well. Okay then. She looked over at Felicity, who said, "She really likes that opening."
"I'm Skye, no last name, no family," she said.
"Except me," Felicity reminded her with a smile.
"Except Felicity," Skye added.
"Why have we been called here?" Nyssa asked.
Laurel held up the bags of food she carried. "Chinese food, remember?" She began setting the containers out on the coffee table in the living room.
Skye was helping Felicity pass out plates when they heard Oliver and John come in. She was feeling nervous again, her stomach a twisting mass of anxiety that made her heart race. She filled her plate but then began picking over her food, pushing it around with her chopsticks rather than eating it.
"Where's Thea?" she asked. She didn't want to start talking until they were all there because she didn't want to repeat any of it. Telling it once was going to be hard enough.
"She's still at the club with Roy," Oliver said. "There was some damage to a few of the windows, so she might be a while."
"Oh." Skye kept her eyes on her plate for a minute before setting it aside and facing the group. "This all started with me being dropped off at St. Agnes Orphanage when I was a baby. I never had parents or a home. The closest thing to a home I ever had was with Felicity and Donna."
Felicity set her plate down and then reached for Skye's hand. Skye squeezed it gratefully as she told her story, starting with what Raina told Coulson about what happened in the Hunan Province. The room was silent as she recounted how she and Felicity found the redacted SHIELD document that led her to Coulson's team. She told them about being shot and the GH-325 drug used to save her life before ending with how the team learned of her reasons for being there in the first place.
Her throat was dry, so Skye drank some of her water and braced herself for the next part. "I understood the tracking bracelet at first. I lied and with Hydra being such a threat, they had no reason to trust me. I understood that I had to earn that back, and believe me, I tried. But months passed and I was worried about Felicity, and I just got tired of it – of being isolated from everyone and stuck on the base. So I decided to go talk to Coulson and tell him I wanted to leave, at least for a little while. That's when I overheard them talking about me."
Felicity seemed to sense her hesitation. At her questioning glance, Skye nodded, and Felicity picked up the story.
"All those months, they'd been studying Skye in secret," Felicity told them. "They were taking her blood on a regular basis, mapping her genome, studying her physiological responses. They wanted to know why she didn't suffer any side effects from the drug."
"Because this woman Raina told them that the village people had powers. You said SHIELD calls them gifted. Is that what they think you are?" Oliver asked.
"No. After Coulson talked to Raina, he had Simmons check my DNA for alien markers, and they found them. They were studying me because I'm part alien. A hybrid." Skye looked up and saw the stunned expressions she expected to see. She tried not to tense up, wondering if revulsion would follow.
"How can they be sure that those markers didn't come from the drug they used?" Sara finally asked.
"Because they were present in the blood samples they took before I was shot. Raina is a lot of things, but I don't think she's lying about this. She really believes there is a race of people descended from aliens – people who have powers. And all the evidence points to me being taken from those people, first by Hydra and then by SHIELD. She also told Hydra about me, which means if I stay here, I'm potentially putting you all at risk."
"We can take care of ourselves," Laurel said firmly. "We're worried about you here. What else do you know?"
Felicity explained what they'd learned from Caitlyn and Dr. Wells. "They think that Skye has a dormant alien DNA strand that has the potential to trigger a biological change. In the interview transcript, Raina called it unlocking her potential. She thought it had something to do with the Obelisk that SHIELD found."
"SHIELD has files on alien races that have been on Earth," Diggle said. "Like the ones who attacked New York, or like Thor. Do they think you're Asgardian?"
"No." Skye sighed and held out her hand for the file Felicity was holding. She pulled out the photo, took a breath and turned it around. "Meet Papa Smurf. Obviously I'm just calling him that because no one has any idea who these blue guys were. This one was recovered from Hydra in the mid-40s."
If anyone was shocked by the photo, they hid it well, which she appreciated.
"Do you have powers that you're hiding from this agency?" Nyssa asked. When Skye shook her head, she said, "Then they should have no use for you. Do you want to return to them?"
Skye hesitated. "No. I don't know. I miss being a part of the team, but I haven't been part of that in months. I don't want to go back to what I left, and I'm tired of being monitored like a science experiment."
"Then you will stay here. We will not allow them to take you against your will."
"You can be on my team," Felicity said. "Our team. Please stay."
Skye was touched as she looked at her new friends. They were serious about wanting her to stay, and she'd be included in their team if she did. No one was treating her like a freak. Despite the longing she felt when she thought about Ward, Jemma, Fitz, May and Coulson, she was beyond tempted in this moment to stay in Starling City.
Before she could respond, they heard Thea coming in the front door. "Uh, Felicity? You have a visitor."
Skye grinned as she saw the slim, blonde woman follow Thea into the apartment. "Donna?"
Donna shrieked, and Skye barely had time to stand before she was engulfed in a tight hug. She winced.
"Mom! Careful!" Felicity said. "She hurt her ribs a few weeks ago."
"No, I'm okay," Skye assured Donna, who backed up in concern. "Really. What are you doing here?"
"Yes, Mom, what are you doing here?" Felicity asked. "And how did you get here? I thought they grounded most of the flights in and out of the city."
"They did but after that woman came looking for Mary…"
"Skye," Felicity and Skye reminded her simultaneously.
Donna waved that away. "You'll always be my little Mary. But I just knew that if you were in trouble that you'd come to Felicity, so I flew to Central City and took the train here. And here you are!"
"She looked for you at the office and your house before coming to the club," Thea told Felicity.
"Wait, back up a minute. What woman came looking for me?" Skye asked.
"Some woman from social services. She said that the police were looking into cold cases on missing teens and contacted her office because all their digital files were gone, and then she discovered that hers were too. I know you said that might happen someday, but I don't know. There was something about her that I didn't like."
Skye wondered if the team had seen the video after all. "What did she look like?"
"Tall, blonde, pretty, glasses, ugly pantsuit," Donna ticked each item off on her fingers. "But she didn't have that look about her that your social worker did."
"What look?"
"Tired, mostly. Something about her wasn't right."
It could be nothing, but Skye was still suspicious. Donna was a little spacey even on a good day, but she was sharper than people gave her credit for, and she had good instincts. The woman obviously wasn't May, but it could have been Bobbi. She was blonde before her undercover stint with Hydra, and she could have reverted back to that hair color. Skye hadn't seen her before the team left on their recent mission.
Or it could have been Hydra. Someone at the orphanage could have given them Felicity's name, and sending a woman was a tactical decision if they were hoping Donna would talk.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize you were having a dinner party," Donna told Thea as she smoothed her hands over the tight, pink dress she wore. Looking around at the group, she said, "I remember Oliver, of course, and Mr. Diggle, and Thea."
"I'm Laurel," Laurel said, smiling at her. "This is my sister, Sara."
"And I am Nyssa, daught-"
"Daughtry," Felicity interrupted her. "Nyssa Daughtry. From England. She's visiting Sara."
"Thea said you're staying here because there's a problem with your apartment," Donna continued.
Skye exchanged a look with Felicity.
"Pest problem," Felicity explained.
Based on Donna's expression, she wasn't buying pest problems but she let it go. "Maybe you girls could come to the hotel with me."
"Or you can stay here," Thea told her. "I'm staying with a friend tonight anyway."
"And we have plenty of food if you haven't eaten," Laurel offered.
Donna joined them as they finished eating, and soon the others left. Felicity walked Oliver out, probably to talk about how they would handle the patrol later with Donna there. Skye would have to run interference.
"I have high hopes for those two," Donna said with a small smile. She was closing the containers, and Skye helped her take them to the kitchen.
"Skye, what is going on?" Donna asked quietly. "Are you in trouble? Is that why you're staying here? Or why I haven't heard from you in eight months?"
"It's complicated," Skye said. "I don't want to drag you into it."
"Is this because you were looking into your birth family?"
"Something like that," she admitted.
"Well first of all, you're not dragging me into anything. I came here because I love you, and I'm staying until I'm sure that you're okay," Donna said. "But if you don't want to talk about it yet, that's fine. We have a lot more to catch up on, right?"
Skye hugged her. "Thanks for coming. And I really am happy to see you. It's been too long."
Donna smoothed her hair back. "It'll be nice to have both my girls together again. And you cut your hair! I like it."
Skye kept Donna busy when Felicity excused herself to Thea's home office, claiming a work emergency. When Felicity emerged from the office later, Skye was working on her laptop in the bedroom.
"Where's Mom?" Felicity asked, crawling onto the bed next to Skye and leaning back against the pillows.
"Shower," Skye told her. "I think I've got a theory about what's making people so angry. The fact that it's only temporary made me think about what we learned about Hydra this summer, and how they brainwashed a lot of SHIELD agents into following them. They used a combination of video and voice conditioning."
"Okay."
"Then I thought about how the city updated their emergency alert system this summer and when I tapped into their office memos, it seems they've had some problems with the signal not going out as scheduled. One area of the city gets the emergency alert, and another one doesn't. They think it's a glitch."
"But it's probably being tampered with," Felicity said.
Skye nodded. "I'm compiling data now to see if we can connect specific broadcasts to areas that reported more crime, but I think we're dealing with some form of temporary brainwashing rather than anything biological."
"There was an EAS broadcast in the bar that night," Felicity told her. "I heard it before it went back to the game that was playing. Sin was outside on the phone, you were in the bathroom, and I was on my computer. Maybe someone has to be looking at it and listening in order to be affected."
"How did the patrols go?"
"They're still out there, but they said they'll call if they need me," Felicity said, yawning.
"Donna knows you don't have pest problems, by the way. She's not pushing, but you and I both know she's not stupid."
Felicity sighed. "I know. I just don't want her to freak out, and news that you're being hunted by the real Men in Black would definitely prompt a freak out. But it's up to you if you want to tell her."
"Not tonight. I'm beat. Movie?"
Thirty minutes later Donna crawled onto the bed, and Skye wiggled over to make room for her between them.
Felicity wrinkled her nose. "Mom, I think we're too big to snuggle like we did when we were nine."
"And ten," Donna said. "It was only when you hit twelve that your inner brat came out. Besides, I haven't had you two together in one place in nearly four years. And I was thinking that if I'm staying for the holidays, we should do something to decorate."
"This isn't my apartment," Felicity reminded her.
Donna raised a brow. "Well, we can decorate your place when your pest problems are taken care of."
"You know what I wish we had right now?" Skye said. "Hot chocolate with peppermint sticks."
"I think Thea has hot chocolate, but I didn't see any peppermint sticks in the kitchen," Felicity said.
Donna sat up and wiggled to the end of the bed. "Wait."
They heard her rummaging in a bag in the other room. She returned less than a minute later and held up three peppermint sticks.
"Like I said earlier, I had a feeling you'd be here," she told Skye with a smile.
Ward stood with May on the rooftop, frustrated. They'd been one step behind the vigilantes all evening, and he'd never wanted to hit something as badly as he did at that moment.
"You need to focus," May told him. "You're letting your emotions rule your head. That won't help Skye."
"There has to be a better way to track the Canary," he told her. "We've been looking for two days now."
May ignored him, which only pissed him off even though he knew she was right.
"There," May said.
But Ward had already seen the shadowy movement. They moved quietly, in sync, and rappelled down the side of the building into an alley before rounding the corner. The vigilante known as the Arrow was fighting alongside a hooded figure, and Ward felt his adrenaline surge when he recognized her as the woman from the alley. She was the one who had shot Skye.
May signaled, and they stepped out of the shadows in unison, icing the three men they'd been fighting.
The Arrow and the hooded woman both drew their bows.
"We have no quarrel with you," the woman said.
"You shot a woman in an alley outside the nightclub Verdant," May replied. "Where is she?"
"I've shot many people since I arrived. Your description lacks detail."
Ward's finger twitched on the trigger, and the slight movement caught the eye of the Arrow.
"Lower your weapon," he demanded in a gravelly voice.
"Not until you give us an answer," he ground out. "Where is the woman you shot?"
"Likely dead," the woman told him.
"For your sake, you'd better hope that's not true," May said. Then she rushed forward, rolling to avoid the arrow the woman fired before sweeping her legs out from under her.
Ward fired at the Arrow as he advanced, and then they were trading blows so fast it was a blur. He was surprised by how evenly matched they were, and he lost track of May as the fight took every bit of his concentration.
The Arrow was using his bow as a weapon, striking in downward blows, and it hit Ward twice before he was able to grasp the metal and use it for leverage as he landed a solid kick on the other man's chest.
Suddenly the Canary dropped down from the side of the building. "I heard you were looking for me."
She threw down a device that looked like a bomb, and Ward and May instinctively rolled away from it. Rather than an explosion, a piercing, high pitched scream emanated from the device, and they both covered their ears. Moments later it stopped, and the vigilantes were gone.
They stayed out for another two hours before concluding they'd lost them for the night. By the time they got back to the hotel, Ward was pissed. He glared at Fitz and Simmons as he stripped off his tac vest in the suite they were using as a command center.
"Why the hell didn't we know the Canary uses sonic devices?" he asked angrily. "We had them, and they got away."
"Ward, enough," Coulson said. "That information was not in the files ARGUS sent us. It's not their fault."
"But now we do know, and we're working on something to counteract that," Simmons said, eyeing him warily as he paced.
"We heard you on the comms," Fitz said. "Do you think she's telling the truth about Skye?"
May looked over at Coulson. "You need to tell them what you found."
Ward stopped pacing as a feeling of dread began replacing his anger.
Coulson sighed heavily before meeting Ward's gaze. "There was a report at the city morgue about a Jane Doe brought in early the next morning. She matched Skye's description, but when I went down there, the body had already been claimed by NSA agents who don't exist, officially or unofficially."
Ward stared at him for a moment. "You don't believe that's what happened."
"The medical examiner and morgue attendants had no recollection of the woman, although they did find a file on her in their office. It's true that with all the chaos in the city, they've been busier than usual. Something just doesn't feel right about any of this. We have to consider the possibility that someone wants us to stop looking for her." Coulson shook his head before looking over at Fitz and Simmons. "You two, get some rest. We'll start again in the morning."
Retiring to his room, Ward took a long shower, leaning his head against the tiles as he let the hot spray soothe his aching muscles. When he got out, he pulled on boxers and sat against the headboard before reaching for the tablet on the nightstand. He'd nearly memorized the photos at this point, but he was fascinated by watching Skye grow from a snaggletooth eight-year-old to the woman he'd met more than a year ago. And Felicity Smoak had been with her every step of the way.
He thought about what Coulson said about Felicity. He'd suspected she might be the one helping the local vigilantes but ruled it out after Skye was attacked. But he was nearly certain that the arrow the hooded woman fired earlier was a tranquilizer arrow, and the Arrow had also not been firing kill shots. So if Coulson was right and the video wasn't what it seemed, then Skye couldn't be the Jane Doe from the morgue.
And if someone wanted them to stop looking for Skye, he'd bet money on it being Felicity Smoak. She had the technical knowledge to disable Skye's tracker. It boiled down to two scenarios. Either Skye was dead, which he refused to believe, or the vigilantes were hiding her.
Ward set the tablet aside and reached under the bed for the case that contained the pieces of his sniper rifle. Fitz had modified the barrel so that ICER bullets could be used. If he could use it shoot the tracker darts, he could tag one of the vigilantes from a distance and track them back to their base.
He picked up the phone. "Fitz, I have an idea."
Skye and Felicity looked up as Diggle and Lyla came down the stairs into Verdant's basement.
"Your mom is really good with Sara," Lyla said with a smile.
"Yeah, Mom loves babies. As she keeps reminding me. Sometimes I swear her biological clock is ticking for me," Felicity said, rolling her eyes. "Are they at your place or Thea's?"
"Our place," Diggle confirmed. "But Captain Lance agreed to stay with them, so everything should be fine. How are you coming on the blackouts?"
"I think we're onto something here," Skye said. "We've definitely got proof the EAS broadcasts were tampered with. When the power surges first started, the signals were going out to certain areas of the city but not others, and places that received the broadcast showed a spike in sudden, angry mob violence, though the effects only seem to last anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour. Then when the blackouts started, the EAS broadcasts were going out before the lights went out – not after. It's like whoever is controlling it wanted to ensure an angry mob was primed and ready to wreak havoc in the dark. But again, the effects are only temporary."
"Maybe that's intentional, or maybe whoever's behind this just hasn't perfected their method," Diggle said. "Any ideas about the who?"
"Not yet, but we're on it," Felicity said. "They will not escape both of us, that's for sure."
"It's true," Skye said, grinning. "We're that good."
A few minutes later, Sara, Nyssa, Oliver and Roy came down the stairs. "We just came to regroup," Oliver told Felicity.
Skye watched Sara as she peeled off her jacket. "You have blood on your arm."
"Sniper rifle, I think," Sara said. "But it's only a scratch. Lousier aim than I'd expect."
"Who would be shooting at you with a sniper rifle?" Skye asked, puzzled. "The police?"
"Frack," Felicity said, looking dismayed. "They shot you?"
She looked guilty again, and Skye was suspicious. "Felicity, what is going on?"
"They're here," Felicity admitted. "Coulson and Ward, anyway. I don't know who else."
Skye's heart pounded, a mix of elation and anxiety flooding her. "That's why you wanted us to stay at Thea's. They're looking for me."
"I'm sorry. I was going to tell you last night and then Mom showed up, and I don't know. I was still trying to think of a way to get them to leave."
"You and I are going to talk about this," Skye said, "but right now I'm more concerned about the sniper shot. Because if Ward or May fired that shot, there is no way in hell they'd leave nothing but a scratch. Fitz has been working on tracker darts that could be used to tag and track people. Fired from the dart gun he'd worked up, it would barely be a sting. But if they modified it to fire from a sniper rifle?"
"The force needed to carry the dart would leave more of a mark," Oliver finished for her. "How do we disable it?"
"Electric current," Skye said.
Oliver grabbed one of the arrows from his quiver and Sara nodded as she held out her arm. "Do it."
She didn't make a sound when Oliver held the tip of the taser arrow to the scratch on her arm and shocked her. Then he grabbed another arrow and tased her again. She gasped and gripped the edge of the table.
Skye winced. "That should do it. But we should probably get out of here."
Felicity powered down the main computers while Skye gathered their laptops. Oliver, Diggle and Lyla led the way up the stairs, followed by Roy, Nyssa and Sara, with Felicity and Skye bringing up the rear. Suddenly Felicity stopped, and Skye could see Oliver, Roy, and Nyssa had drawn their bows, while Diggle and Lyla were aiming their guns into the shadows of the club.
Then the shadows shifted, and Skye saw Ward, Coulson, May, Bobbi and Hunter had the exits blocked.
"Whoa! Everyone stop!" Skye shouted, pushing her way to the front despite Felicity's protests.
"Skye?" Coulson lowered his gun. "Are you alright?"
She nodded, and her eyes shifted to look at Ward, who still had his gun trained on Oliver. "Ward stop."
When he didn't move, she shot a pleading look at the others. "Please. Everyone just… stop."
Slowly, they all began lowering their weapons. Then Skye felt a rush of movement, and she was flying. The world around her was little more than a blur, and when it stopped, she gasped and leaned over to put her hands on her knees. "I think I'm going to throw up."
"Sorry."
She looked up to see Barry Allen standing over her. He was wearing his Flash uniform but the hood was down, and she realized she was at STAR Labs. "Oh no. Barry, you have to take me back!"
"I promised Felicity I'd keep you safe," he told her. "I'll be back soon though."
"Barry!"
But he was gone, leaving her in the lab with Cisco, Caitlyn and Dr. Wells.
A/N – Cliffie! I'm going to try to post Ch 8 later this week though. It's mostly ready but I'm playing with the flashback scenes, and one or two other scenes. I decided to hold the flashbacks I was working on until the next chapter because Donna is featured more there, and the next ones include her. Also, I think this story is going to end up being about 10 chapters based on the length. But we're nearing the end now. I hope you enjoyed the update! Thanks for reading.
Up Next - standoff between Team Arrow and Team SHIELD, and a very tense Skyeward reunion.
