Chapter 7 - How High?
Events in this chapter occur during Season 1 episodes 11 and 12, and may use dialogue from these episodes.
Skye was startled to be called to Coulson's office. When she arrived, Agent May was already there. "Hey, boss, what's up?" she asked.
"Close the door please, Skye, and come sit down." Coulson's voice was its usual calm and his expression neutral. Skye followed his instructions and sat down. "It has come to our attention that we may be putting you at undue risk under the current circumstances."
With a frown, Skye looked questioningly at Coulson. "What does that mean, exactly?"
"It means that with our team working on some fairly dangerous projects, multiple means of communication may be necessary for the safety of all our team members."
"Woah, wait," Skye said, slowly beginning to smile. "You mean the bracelet?"
"We will be lifting your restrictions on phone calls and texts," Coulson clarified. "Internet access will still be blocked, and calls and texts will be monitored."
"You realize that Brock and I like to text, right?"
Coulson shrugged. "I don't care about your personal relationship interactions, Skye. The monitor will be looking for keywords associated with our missions or other SHIELD data."
"Better than nothing," Skye said with a quiet sigh. "Thank you, sir."
"Consider this a test run," Coulson advised. "If you live up to our trust for this much, we'll talk about the rest."
"Got it," she said. "Was there anything more, sir?"
"Not for the moment, no."
"Do I need to go anywhere for you to reprogram this thing?" she held up her wrist.
Coulson smiled and shook his head. "Already done. You don't think you're the only one who can work remotely, do you?"
"Nope, not at all."
Skye left the room and returned to her bunk. She opened the drawer where her cell phone had been stored and pressed the power button with a smile. She watched it cycle on without being locked down automatically and smiled brighter.
Hey. she sent to Brock via text. Boss-man lifted the ban on phone calls and texts. Something about placing me at risk if I couldn't contact anyone. Still no internet, but if all goes well maybe I'll get that back too.
She didn't get an answer right away, but that didn't really surprise her. So she went back to working on her earlier project, scanning SHIELD agents who could possibly be related to her. She was distracted a half-hour or so later by her phone.
Glad to hear it, sweetheart. I'll be a little busy the next few days, but I'll respond when I can. She smiled, reflecting on just how good it was to be able to contact him again.
I know you will. That was always the deal. But now I should be able to respond when you're able to message me. And wasn't that an amazing feeling?
Skye found her smile widening when the response to that was a simple I miss you.
I miss you too, she texted back.
xoxoxoxoxox
If Rumlow had thought his life was busy before he came clean to Fury and Hill, it was utter chaos now. He seemed to spend every minute when he wasn't in company writing down (with an invisible ink pen, on flash paper) everything he knew about HYDRA before dead-dropping it for Hill to pick up. Being a double agent had been hard work. Being a triple agent was worse. And far more terrifying, because he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that HYDRA would have him killed the instant they even suspected what he was up to.
This is for Skye, he told himself more than once when he found himself contemplating just walking the fuck away from it all. If you want Skye to be yours, you have to do this. You have to make it right.
He'd got into the habit of checking his phone immediately on his return from missions. No matter how exhausted he was. There was usually a message from Skye that would make him smile. On one particular occasion, though, the message made the smile drop right off his face.
Coulson's been taken. Agent Hand is in charge on the Bus and I've been kicked off. I need your help, Brock.
He didn't spare a moment. Just ripped off his SHIELD tactical gear and re-dressed in unmarked clothes, dragging on a leather bike jacket and zipping it up over his loaded tac harness. By the time he'd dressed, the response to his Where are you? text had come back.
He went straight to Hill and told her that he was taking a quinjet for a personal mission and it would generally be best if nobody asked any questions. She hesitated, but eventually nodded and told him she'd fix things.
He caught up with Skye right after she'd broken into the financier's house. He'd told her to wait for him but she was clearly in no mood to wait for anything - she had to be totally panicking about Coulson. The relief on her face when he strode in and put one of Rathman's security guys headfirst into the wall was indescribable. Her voice was all business, though, when she snapped;
"You're late, Agent."
"My apologies, ma'am. You look to be doing just fine without me." He took in the other security guard - cowering with an expression like he was about to shit his pants, the amateur - and the financier, who was also looking suddenly very terrified. "Is this idiot giving you any trouble, ma'am?" Slowly, menacingly, he drew a shockstick from under his jacket. Activated it so blue electricity crackled up the stick.
"No trouble!" Rathman nearly squealed. "Anything you want! Yes, of course!"
Except, the idiot was the least computer savvy human Brock had ever seen. He exchanged a quick glance with Skye, who shook her wrist subtly so that he saw she was still wearing that damnable control bracelet. His lips thinned, but he nodded sharply, stepped in and shoved Rathman out of his chair.
"Fucking incompetent. Allow me, ma'am."
Skye quickly hauled Rathman to the other chair, securing him to it beside the conscious security guard, while snapping out instructions for Brock to follow. "Start with the account history, and then open up a terminal emulator."
"Yes, ma'am," he replied again as he began to type. Out of the corner of his eye he watched her secure the men and noted how well she was doing with it. Not bad for a newbie. Good for her.
Skye walked back around the desk and nodded. She continued to give instructions, walking him through what she needed. "There. Click there," she said, nodding when he did so. "Hello, Raina. Let's see what you've been up to." She scanned the screen, issued a few more instructions and then nodded. "Print that. That's what we need."
"Great," Rathman said in a tone of long-suffering, which made both Skye and Rumlow roll their eyes. "Are we done now?"
Skye glanced at Brock and he shrugged. "Well, there is one more thing…" she told Rathman with a glimmer in her eyes.
When they were on the road, Brock behind the wheel of the sports car simply because Skye figured he had better reflexes than she did, she pulled out the sat phone that FitzSimmons had given her and dialed.
"Simmons? It's me." Skye said. She frowned when Simmons tried to play cool on the other end and failed miserably. "Is someone there? God, don't try to lie. You are the worst at this. Remember our safe word?" Brock snickered, and Skye figured he must be hearing Jemma fumble on the other end as well. Skye heard indistinct voices and tried to get Jemma's attention again. "Listen up, I may have a lead on where Centipede is hiding Coulson."
Skye bit her lip when Agent May came on the phone, but she tried to keep her cool. "I followed the money trail, like I said I would," Skye told her. "I've got a little company, but we're on our way."
"Company?" May asked, disapproval in her cool tone.
"Brock's here; he's helping me around certain restrictions. Look, I know we don't have long, so here's what I found..."
Skye and Brock wandered through the deserted shell of a town, staying within sight but not too close. When the Centipede soldier found Skye she ran, ducking around buildings in hopes of giving Brock a chance to ambush the soldier. He'd just kicked the man out into the roadway when the rest of Skye's team showed up, hitting the soldier with the SUV.
The team stood for a moment, getting their bearings and about to split up again when the first soldier picked himself up off the ground and a second one showed up. The team split, Ward on one and May on the other. Skye was still searching for Coulson, Brock at her back, when they all heard a scream. Leaving the team to deal with the soldiers, Skye took off towards the sound of the scream.
What she found had her pause in shock for just a moment, then she quickly moved into the room. She sent Raina to the floor with a single solid punch, and Brock chuckled as he picked the girl up and held onto her. Skye ran to the machine Coulson was in, trying hard to ignore his pleas to be allowed to die. She checked the controls but had no idea what she was doing; then May joined her and just unplugged the whole machine.
"Coulson," Skye whispered, taking the man's hand gently. "Come back, come back."
"Skye," he whispered, panting. "Skye." She held his hand tightly, resting her forehead against his arm as she helped anchor him to the present.
"Rumlow," Coulson said with a brief nod of greeting as he allowed Skye and May to help him down from the machine.
"Coulson," he replied. With a glance at Skye, he hauled Raina outside. Skye, Coulson and May followed, just a bit slower. Once outside, Skye and May took Coulson to the SUV where Jemma immediately started checking him for injuries. Rumlow and Ward secured Raina in the back of the vehicle.
Leaving Ward to watch over the prisoner, May nearby, Brock approached Skye again. "Hey, sweetheart."
She turned to smile at him. "Hey," she answered. She stepped into his arms and they held each other for a moment. "Thank you for coming."
"You're kidding, right?" he found a smile coming to his face as she pressed her face against his throat. "This was nothing. I'll always have your back, Skye. All you have to do is call."
She hugged on tighter for a moment, and he realised there were tears running down her cheeks. "Hey. Hey, sweetheart, don't cry. It's gonna be alright. Coulson's okay and you did an amazing job, I don't doubt you could have gotten exactly the same result even if I couldn't have come to help."
She turned her face up to kiss him almost desperately and he returned the embrace, running his fingers into her hair to hold her closer.
"Rumlow," May's voice interrupted. "We need to move. Got to get Coulson to the Bus for a proper medical checkup."
He lifted his head reluctantly. "I need to get back."
"Oh, but…" Skye's fingers clenched in his jacket. "You have to go now?"
"Technically I'm not actually AWOL since I did tell Commander Hill I was leaving, but it's probably a bit close for comfort," he admitted. "Plus I kind of stole a quinjet."
May gave him a Look. And then she quite deliberately stuck her fingers in her ears and walked away.
Skye started to giggle wearily against his chest. "Brock."
"What?" he grinned, bent his head and kissed her again. "Fuck 'em, baby. I'd have stolen a damn Helicarrier if that was what it took."
"I love you," she said, and looked suddenly a bit shocked.
"Good. Because I'm so fucking in love with you I can't think straight."
When he finally had to let her go and step back, he found Ward watching them. The other man didn't look away until Rumlow met and held his eyes for a long, tense moment.
He took Skye's hand to walk her to the SUV. Coulson was pretty nearly unconscious in the back seat, Jemma working frantically to secure an IV in his arm and make him comfortable. Skye wriggled into the seat, taking Coulson's head in her lap, smoothing his thinning hair gently, and Coulson mustered enough strength to give her a smile.
"Get better soon, Coulson," Brock said quietly. "Your team need you." One last caress to Skye's hair and he was walking away. May came up beside him, though, and he paused, shot her a fierce look. "Get that fucking bracelet off her."
"I'll see to it. She's earned it." May seemed to be hesitating over something.
"Spit it out, Melinda."
"About that other thing." May's dark eyes flickered in Ward's direction.
"Yes? I take it there won't be a problem?" His tone implied There better fucking well not be.
"I'm pretty sure I've got it under control. He's just trying to protect her."
Rumlow hesitated before nodding. "All right. I trust you to keep an eye on the situation."
"Thank you," she said dryly, before offering her hand to shake. "And thank you for your help today, as well."
He shrugged it off, saying that all Skye had to do was say jump and he'd only ask how high. That made her smirk before leaving him to head back to his jet alone.
xoxoxoxoxox
Brock had to try very hard not to panic when STRIKE were called in to deal with what appeared to be a Gifted individual at the SHIELD Academy and he learned that Coulson's team was on site. And because Coulson's team was on site, Cap wasn't sent in with them. He exchanged a grim look with Rollins when they got that particular tidbit of news.
"Fucking Gifteds," Rollins grunted. "How many dead are there going to be this time?"
Brock just gritted his teeth and checked his weapons. "None, if I can fucking help it."
Of course, the atmospheric storm was so damned severe they couldn't even land until it was all over. Brock seriously debated parachuting in anyway but being struck by lightning in an ice storm wasn't on his preferred list of ways to die.
He found Skye once it was all over, standing in the atrium at the Academy in front of the Wall of Valor. Stopping for a moment, he bowed his head in respect, reaching out to trace a few names on the Wall.
"Friends?" Skye asked softly, coming to his side and taking his hand.
"We all lose people. When you command a team, it's harder. Telling a parent that your orders got their son or daughter killed…" he shook his head. "The worst thing I've ever had to do. Bar none." Turning to look at her, he spotted Ward walking away before he looked at her face. And then he saw the tear tracks on her cheeks. "Jesus, Skye! What happened?"
With a sob, she stepped into his embrace, resting her head on his chest and letting him hold her tight as she shivered. "Oh, Brock."
Eventually, she managed to get it out, between sobs. Told him what Coulson had found out about her background.
"I thought - thought whatever I'd find out couldn't be worse than what I'd imagined. But it is. Oh God, it is, it's so much worse, all those people dead because of me…"
He held her gently, stroking her hair as she spoke. "No, Skye," he said quietly. "Not because of you. Because of whoever or whatever was hunting you. But this is not your fault." He wiped her eyes gently with a tissue from a small pack he kept in his vest pocket; usually for cleaning other things up, but she didn't need to know that.
Hand in hand, they left the atrium and walked slowly down the walk between buildings. "Coulson told me that it's too dangerous to keep digging, and I agreed with him," she said after a bit. "I don't want to risk my team or anyone else because I can't let the past go." She took a deep breath and sighed. "But I decided that was okay. Coulson said that the story had to end here. But it doesn't."
"What do you mean?" he asked softly when she paused.
"All those years, I thought I kept getting sent back to the orphanage because no one wanted me, because no one cared. But it was all really meant to protect me instead. It doesn't need to be about the family I never had, not anymore. Now it's about the family I've always had but didn't know. SHIELD is my family, my team is my family." She looked up at him, her eyes damp but bright. "Plus I have you, and I believe you when you tell me that's not going to change. So no, my story doesn't end here. It starts here. And even though I don't know where it will take me, I think I'm finally ready to see where that road goes."
Brock stared at her, amazed, as he listened to her speak. "You're something else, sweetheart. I don't know too many people who could hear a story like that and not be hurt by it."
"It does hurt; it hurt to hear, to know that so many people died because of what happened. But if I let that bring me down, or stop me from living my life... then all those people will have died for nothing. I can't let that happen."
"You're an amazing woman, Skye," he told her, sincerity burning in his eyes. She let him tug her into his arms again, her chin resting against his chest as she looked up at him. "Don't you ever let anyone else tell you otherwise."
She smiled. "I'll remember. Thanks for listening, though. It helps."
"Anytime, sweetheart. You just say the word, and I'll always be here for you."
"Which reminds me, why are you here? I wasn't expecting to see you at SciTech." She smiled again. "Not that I'm upset about it. Just curious."
"We got called in to pick up a new Gifted," he told her, not giving her much detail. "Usually when we get a call like this, more than one person ends up dead. Your team did a good job."
"It was more like an experiment gone wrong, but I get it."
"Yeah, well, you'd be surprised how often that sort of thing has side-effects."
She sighed. "Probably not. But it's alright."
"Come on. I'll walk you back to the Bus before I meet up with my team." He kept his arm around her shoulders as they walked together, enjoying the way she leaned into him. Wishing he could have more than just these few stolen minutes with her, but he'd already received the signal to take his team back to the Triskelion.
As they approached the Bus, though, Brock saw something that made him feel suddenly uneasy. Rollins and Ward were standing together near the foot of the ramp, talking earnestly in low tones. They both looked up as he approached with Skye, looking at the pair of them.
Brock had gotten kind of used to seeing the slightly jealous expression on Ward's face. Seeing it on Rollins, though, threw him a little. He wanted to write it off as just a general feeling of jealousy, towards him for having such a young and gorgeous soulmate, but - knowing what he did about Rollins...
A shiver ran down his spine.
*spooky music in background*
So Skye and Brock get closer, but everything else starts to go wrong… we are, of course, on a rapid collision course with a freight train known as Project Insight...
