Skye's POV
"Are we nearly done?" I moan at Fitz. I want to start this hack.
"Nearly. Now back to eye colour?"
"I didn't get close enough to find out, besides it was fairly dim in that corridor."
"With a redhead I would go blue or green!" Simmons shouts from across the room.
Fitz taps the keys and I am looking at a digital image of Ward's friend on the screen. There is something about her I cannot shake, but I understand what Hunter meant when he said he recognised her. The more I look at her, the more familiar she becomes.
"I'm going to run it by our database. If she's in this life then we'll find her!"
"What if she's new to it?" I ask. I know it's a stupid question, but I can't help it.
"Then we run her by the DMV." Fitz explains, tapping more keys and initiating the search. I cross the Lab to where I keep my laptop and before I sit down, Fitz's computer makes a sound like an alarm.
"That was quick." he exclaims.
I run to back to him to find that the file we need is locked with the highest security clearance.
"Try Domino" I tell Fitz.
He types it in quickly and the screen changes. It now says that it is deleting the file.
"What did you do?" Fitz screams at me as I try and stop the file from being deleted.
"It was Coulson's password. He has a level 10 security clearance. It should have unlocked. How was I supposed to know it was rigged with a virus!" I snap back, frantically hitting the keys. I can see that I am running out of time.
85%
90%
95%
99%
*file deleted*
"DAMN IT!" I shout, hitting the keyboard in frustration.
"Plan 'B' it is." Fitz says, returning to the search and running the composite through the DMV. If she has a license we'll know who she is soon enough.
I traipse back to my laptop and sit on the stool in front of it.
The first thing I do is create a back up of my hard drive. The next thing I do is look for a way into the Kremlins system.
It takes me 45 minutes to hack my way into the system without leaving a trace and another half hour of scrolling and searching and I have come up with...
... absolutely nothing.
I feel like I need to go and pound on the punchbag some more and as I get up to take a break, I'm hit with a realisation. The paintings were in hidden secure vaults in the sub basement. What if the files were hidden too.
With a fresh burst of adrenaline, I start tapping away at the keyboard, engrossed in what I am good at and not realising everyone had left. I manage to locate the files and groan as I see over a thousand vaults listed and can't remember the number of the vault Ward hit.
I can feel the tension in my neck and move it from side to side to make it click. I doubt Hunter will be able to help me with the vault number, but I have to ask.
As I get up to go and find him, Fitz's computer pings again. There is a result from the DMV and the face of Mya Delaney looks out at me.
"Got you." I whisper. I hit print and put the resulting pages into a folder. I read them as I look for Hunter and come to one conclusion: Mya Delaney is not her real name. There is no way a history teacher has a skill set like that and gets mixed up with new age Nazis.
I walk into Coulson before I find Hunter and give him the file and a brief outline of what we have found so far.
He flicks open the folder and I see the colour drain from his face.
"Coulson?" I ask as delicately as I can. He looks like he's about to pass out.
"You were right. Mya Delaney is not her real name. Her real name is Mya Carter."
"And that's a problem because?" I prompt him.
"Mya Carter is Peggy Carter's only Grandchild. She was taught to defend herself from a young age to protect her from people looking for Peggy."
"Still missing the problem."
"Peggy's Rose ring any bells?"
I feel like I have run into a brick wall at full speed. I feel stupid for not making the connection.
"Ward's using Mya to find Peggy's Rose. How on earth did he get her on his side?" I state. I am still reeling from Mya's identity.
"Brainwashing? Charm? You yourself know how charming he can be when he wants to be."
I give Coulson my best glare at his comments. I do not want to be reminded of how much of a fool I was.
"We should keep this between us for now, until we know how he got her on side at least." Coulson orders me, closing the file.
"Agreed. She stays as Mya Delany for now."
We looked at each other, the unspoken questions in the air. We both know Ward is capable of brainwashing people. I have a gut feeling he talked her into this rather than brainwashing her. She seemed to be too independent to be brainwashed.
I sit back at my laptop, having found Hunter and discovered he had no idea what Vault is was other than one in the 600 range, prepared for a long slog.
The news about who Mya is still pulses through my veins, so instead of slogging through the contents of 100 vaults, I open begin a new hack. This time into the people I work for. I know Peggy's file will be locked with the highest security clearances.
It doesn't take me long to find and I use Coulsons password to unlock it and hold my breath as it works.
I scan the huge file with greedy eyes looking for information that will help me locate what vault they were in so I can begin to narrow down what they took.
I see nothing, so I scroll back to the top, noticing as I do Peggy's Birthday.
15th June.
Smiling, I return to my previous search and look through the contents of vault 6.15. There is nothing that stands out to me as being worthy to steal.
I have to start thinking outside the box but my thoughts keep coming back to Mya.
Mya Carter.
Peggy Carter's Granddaughter.
Ward has made contact because Mya has inside information on Shield's Rose.
That's when I realise I am staring at the word 'Rose' on the screen. One of the paintings in the vault is of roses.
I've done it!
"I am a genius!" I say to myself out loud while doing a victory dance. Fortunately there is no one here to see me dance because I know I suck at it!
"Meeting Room. Five minutes." Coulson's voice tells us over the intercom system.
Now that I know who we are dealing with and what they stole, I head for the meeting in slightly better spirits than I was in this morning.
Five minutes later we are all sat in the now cleaned out meeting room, waiting for Coulson to arrive. There is no coffee, so we all know it's going to be a quick one. Coulson arrives and he looks worried.
"Right, we have made progress. We now know, thanks to Daisy and Fitz, that Ward's head of security is Mya Delany. No record, not in our system and is a former History teacher specialising in the Nazi regime."
"We also know that Ward stole the painting 'Roses' from the vault." I say, looking at Coulson in the eye as I interrupt him.
"Why would he want a painting?"
"Our UC with Ward has provided the answer to that one for us. She managed to overhear the technical department telling Mya that the DNA sequence to an unknown flower was on the back of this painting." Coulson interjects.
"An unknown flower? All flower DNA has been recorded as there are only so many types of each in the world." Simmons tells us.
"I'm going to go with a rose" I say. I get looks of confusion in return so I continue: "Everything that we have discovered so far leads to Shield's Rose, so it makes sense that this unknown flower is a rose. It could be one so rare that we don't have it's DNA on record."