Skye had spent the better part of the day on Clint's personal floor trying to rein in her tumultuous emotions, she'd tried the meditations Bobbi had taught her, the tai chi May had shared and had even tried Hunter's go to of whaling on the punching bag, and still peace of mind eluded her.
Clint had even offered to spar with her, which she had politely refused. Skye had no doubt that if they'd sparred things would have detoured into something a lot more intimate, though that might have been a welcome distraction for her Skye really didn't want to use Clint like that.
Skye had been aware of his reassuring presence for most of the time, he'd always been in the background in some form, whether he was making adjustments on one of his bows, cleaning not only his sidearm but hers – though she wasn't entirely sure exactly how he'd gotten hers – to holding the punching bag still for her.
However, as the time had passed Skye had become aware of Clint's own frustration rising. So she really hadn't been surprised when he'd tugged her from her seated position on the floor, fastened her sidearm belt and holster around her waist and thigh before sliding her sidearm into the holster.
The sheer size of the shooting range had been surprising though; it was seriously bigger than the Playground's. Skye had watched stunned as Clint had prodded away at a touch screen in the wall beside the door to have shooting stalls emerge from the floor.
Falling into a silent routine in their individual stalls Skye was surprised by exactly how much shooting the targets helped her mind to focus, the quiet thunk of Clint's arrows hitting his targets as she reloaded had Skye holstering her sidearm.
Leaning forward on the stall Skye squinted at his targets which she realised were set further back than the ones she'd been using, moving out of her stall Skye made her way down to Clint's just as he slung his bow over his shoulder and went to retrieve his arrows.
"So, what are the chances I could convince you to teach me to shoot a bow?"
"Pretty good, but not today I'm afraid. The draw on my bow will be too much for you, but if you really want to learn I can adjust the draw weight on one of my backup bows for you?"
"I'll hold you to that, thank you for this, Clint."
"Consider it a future date and you're welcome Skye, I know what it's like to need to clear your head."
Skye had been about to speak when a bodiless throat cleared, she still wasn't used to the fact that Stark's AI was everywhere.
"Forgive my interruption Mr Barton, Miss Skye but Director Coulson has requested Miss Skye's presence on the guest floor where they were staying." JARVIS stated crisply.
"Were? We're leaving?" Skye asked quietly as her gaze drifted towards the ceiling.
"I do not know Miss, the Director only asked me to request your presence."
"Thanks JARVIS, let Phil know she's on her way."
Blinking Skye looked to Clint quizzically; she had to wonder if that was his way of asking for space, time apart to assess what exactly they were and even though she didn't really know him the idea of leaving caused a dull ache to blossom in her chest.
Warring with her indecision Skye turned towards the door knowing her expression would be clear evidence of her inner turmoil over whether to stay with her soulmate or leave with those she considered her family.
It was Clint's calloused fingers curling around her wrist that stalled her movements to leave, a light tug on her wrist had Skye turning back to face Clint as he rumbled;
"I don't want you to leave Skye, just so we're clear on the matter, but I'm also not going to force you to stay. Instead I'm asking you to stay with me, please? I want us to get to know each other."
"I want that too. I don't want to leave Clint, but the team are the closest thing I have to a family. Is it okay if I go speak with them and see what's going on before I give you an answer?"
Skye's only response was Clint's slight nod before he leant in to brush his lips against her forehead and then turned himself back to his targets, turning around Skye made her way quickly back towards the elevator.
The ride to the guest floor couldn't go fast enough for Skye, when the doors finally opened and allowed her to step out onto the guest floor she spotted Coulson over by the bar and made her way over to him.
"DC? What's going on?"
"We're heading back to base, Skye." Coulson stated matter of factly his tone unflappable.
Before Skye could even finish processing that particular comment and form a coherent response, Coulson had raised a hand to stop her from talking as he spoke again.
"I'm not even going to bother trying to make it an order for you or Jemma, she has already voiced her disapproval at the thought of leaving at this time and I imagine you were about to do the same. Neither of you will be forced into doing something you don't want and if the two of you want time alone with your soulmates I can hardly begrudge either of you that."
Throwing her arms around Coulson, Skye hugged him tightly; the man really was everything she'd ever wished for in a father as a child being bounced from foster home to foster home and she knew how protective he felt of her, Jemma and Fitz. They were like his kids and now he had to entrust two of them to a man technically older than him and his former asset.
"I promise to stay in touch and it's not like you could really get rid of me since I can always get into your systems."
It was as she was saying her goodbyes – for now anyways – that May dragged her into the room Skye had spent the previous night in, blinking suddenly Skye studied her mentor's expression. May looked contemplative and yet concerned at the same time.
"Tell him, Skye. You don't want to be keeping secrets from your soulmate, and Barton's the most observant person I know. He sees things better from a distance so the longer you try to keep it from him the more he's going to dig. Trust me when I tell you that you don't want him finding out another way, it'd be best if he learnt it from you."
As she processed what May had just said Skye felt her brow furrow, crossing her arms defensively over her chest she cocked her head slightly to watch the only person she'd ever thought of as a mother figure as she mumbled;
"You're talking about Ward and Cal? May….I don't know if I can do that. Cal is, well you know I don't think of him as family, not after what he did to Coulson and Ward - if he found out about Clint he'd go after him, we both know that."
"That is why you need to tell him, Barton works best when his back is to the wall and he has all the facts. If he knows in advance what may be coming then he can plan and prepare for it, if he finds out about Ward on his own then he's going to jump to the wrong conclusion and you don't want that Skye. Your bond with Barton is new, it's still forming…..still growing, if you hide this from him you'll lose his trust and that will take a long time to earn back if you can at all."
When May turned to leave the room Skye reached out to touch her shoulder lightly, as May turned slightly to look back at Skye she chewed her lower lip nervously before eventually whispering;
"May, do me a favour? Look after DC and the others for me? I'd never forgive myself if something happened to them in my absence; all of you are the closest thing I've ever had to a family. We may not be normal, but honestly how many families truly are normal these days?"
"That I can do, and Skye tell him everything. Your ability included, I know that you've been working to try and contain it because you're afraid of hurting people, afraid of being looked at as though you are a monster, but Barton is the one person who won't judge you, he'll love you unconditionally regardless. He wasn't always a hero you know, he was Fury's best wet work specialist until he made a different call with Romanoff."
Skye frowned. "That implies he wasn't afterwards?"
"No," May said dryly. "Then it was Romanoff. With Barton a close second. His past before SHIELD was even uglier. And as for the Loki thing…" May shrugged. "He lost everything, Skye. Nobody at SHIELD would trust him after that, even though it wasn't his fault. With Coulson gone, there was no one left to argue for him with the higher-ups. He and Romanoff walked, and I don't blame either of them for a moment."
Skye nodded slowly, considering May's words. Perhaps Clint really would understand. He had his own demons to fight, it seemed.
Once she was back in the elevator and the doors had closed blocking out the sight of her team preparing to leave Skye let her brave face crack, wrapping her arms around her midsection she leant back against the rear wall. With a quiet shaky sigh she turned her gaze to the ceiling and queried;
"JARVIS, is Clint still in the shooting range?"
"He is, Miss. Would you like me to take you there?"
"Please and thank you."
Clint had been in the far back of the shooting range carefully pulling each of his arrows from the targets and inspecting them before returning them to his quiver when he heard the quiet click of the door closing.
As he turned to walk back to the stall he could see Skye by the door and given the slight incline of her head towards the ceiling he gathered she was talking to JARVIS, moving through the stalls Clint made his way to the weapons bench in the corner where he deposited his bow and quiver before turning to sit back on the edge of the counter to watch Skye's languid approach.
Even from this distance he could see the sadness etched in her small stature, the way she hugged her middle and worried her bottom lip were clear indicators to him that something was going on. He surprised himself when before she'd even reached him or had a chance to speak he stated flatly;
"So you're leaving."
Turning back to his bow Clint scrabbled roughly amidst the tools on the bench seeking the cleaning cloth and wax, he hadn't phrased it as a question, hadn't needed to, and years of being abandoned throughout his life had taught him how to read body language.
Focusing his attention on waxing his bowstring Clint was trying – and most likely failing – to conceal his disappointment that Skye was leaving, though inside his head were the thoughts of why would she stay? She doesn't even know you; you only just met yesterday during what was for her possibly a traumatic experience.
The slight movement in his peripheral vision told Clint that Skye had just hauled herself up to sit on the weapons bench beside him, this was confirmed when her slight hand settled on his forearm moments before she quietly said;
"No, I'm not leaving, the others are. Unless you've changed your mind while I was gone and you want me to leave?"
The momentary sigh of relief that rushed through Clint was soon quelled; by not only the uncertain waver in Skye's voice at the end but the way she slowly began to ease her hand back from his forearm. Hastily dropping the cleaning cloth Clint covered her retreating hand with his as he barked;
"Hell no! I don't want you to go, but at the same time I can't work out why you'd want to stay if the closest thing you have to family is pulling up stakes."
Clint had turned while speaking and was currently watching what he could only describe as an incredulous look form on Skye's face, the slow blink of her dark eyes as her breath whooshed out in a soft sigh was more than a little familiar, almost a feminine equivalent of Coulson's exasperation.
"For you, you adorable idiot. It's not like I'll never see them again, they're only a six hour or so drive away and I'll still have access to the Playground, plus Jemma is staying so it's not like I'm completely abandoned. She's impossible sometimes but she is my best friend."
When he thought about that Clint could admit Skye had a point, if SHIELD's base was only a few hours away it'd be easy enough for her to visit and if she was needed to go out into the field well then they could either pick her up enroute or he could use the Avengers quinjet to drop her off.
Propping his hip against the bench, Clint's fingers brushed idly along the back of Skye's hand that was still resting on his forearm; cocking his head slightly to one side he studied her face. Skye had gone back to worrying her bottom lip with her teeth; he was getting the impression that, along with chewing on her thumb nail, were his best indicators of working out when something was troubling her.
"So, we need to talk Clint, umm is now a good time? I mean if now's not good we can do it later."
"I'm all ears beautiful. JARVIS activate privacy mode please."
"Privacy mode enabled Mr Barton, all recording devices are now shut down."
"Huh, that's handy and saves me from having to hack into Stark's servers and remove this conversation from existence."
Clint was pretty sure that particular comment had both his brows arching to his hairline, the casual ease with which she spoke about hacking into Stark's servers hinted at a darker past than he had suspected.
"You're a hacker then, is that how you wound up with Coulson?"
"Kinda, it's not what I was planning on telling you but it's probably a good place to start. See I was working with the Rising Tide, I thought of myself as a Hacktivist and thought that SHIELD were bad men in black suits, so I was working to expose them. Got on their radar in a bad way and found myself being detained temporarily by Coulson and one of his team."
"I soon learnt how wrong I was when one of my ex's hacked SHIELD and sold off information that resulted in the abduction, torture and death of a powered individual off SHIELD's asset register."
When Skye fell silent momentarily Clint could see the silent anguish in her eyes, the entire ordeal had obviously been painful and yet enlightening for her. It wasn't the first time Coulson had picked someone up from the wrong side of the tracks and managed to change their life for the better and he highly doubted she'd be the last.
"You said that this wasn't what you were planning to discuss? We can move on to that if you'd prefer?" Clint murmured quietly as he gave a reassuring squeeze to her hand.
"Hmm that's not much better, but yeah let's do that. I have worse enemies than Quinn, Clint, and one of them will come after you when he finds out about us."
It wasn't hard for Clint to miss the fact that this was obviously hard for Skye to discuss, her hand resting on his forearm was damp and her gaze was now turned away from him and he got the distinct impression that Skye was ashamed about whatever it was she was planning to tell him.
"There was a guy that I kind of thought I had feelings for and I thought he cared for me. Remember when I told you the last man I trusted who wasn't Coulson wound up being HYDRA? Well that was this guy, he was the specialist on Coulson's team and for a time my SO."
"He got a name, Skye?"
"Ward, Grant Ward. I thought he cared about me, but then he killed one of us and I was forced to play dumb and leave with him in order to warn Coulson. Ward is crazy, Clint, he thinks I'm his, that what we have is some kind of predestined true love given both of us had shitty starts to our lives."
The slight waver of fear in Skye's voice was impossible to miss and had Clint carefully extracting his arm from her hold as he pushed his hip off the work bench, with how Skye was sitting on the edge of the bench with her legs parted, feet dangling and swinging restlessly it was easy for Clint to situate himself between her legs.
Settling his hands on Skye's denim clad thighs, Clint shifted subtly to meet her eyes, those dark eyes of hers told a story all on their own when it came to Ward, and he could see the mix of fear, revulsion and anger within their depths.
"A lot of shit happened that I kind of don't want to cover entirely at the moment, but I promise I will tell it all to you, right now I'm sticking to the big stuff. So several months ago Ward led a raid on the Bus to reclaim an asset that HYDRA needed and he decided it was time that he fulfilled the promise he made to me about taking me to meet my father."
Clint blinked at the slightly venomous tone of Skye's voice at the mention of her father and he definitely didn't miss the way her eyes flicked away from his as they started to shimmer with unshed tears.
"It was Ward's fault I was separated from the team before San Juan, his fault I was forced into the same room with the psychotic monster that is my father. My father is a murderer, Clint, I don't know what he was like before that HYDRA bastard Whitehall vivisected my mother and left her remains for Cal to find, but he willingly chose to turn into a monster to avenge her and fucking Ward handed me to him on a silver platter."
Curling one arm round Skye's waist, Clint moved his other to stroke his hand soothingly along her back as Skye dropped her chin to rest on his shoulder, he didn't speak, wasn't going to push her to reveal anything she didn't want to right then and instead tried to silently reassure her.
"Cal wouldn't shut up about how he was going to rip Whitehall apart for separating his family and about how the Diviner was part of my greater destiny. I wasn't even supposed to be in San Juan, Coulson wanted me safe with May on the Bus and instead I was forced to watch my genetic father beat the shit out of the only man I've ever considered a father."
Skye's hands clenching in the side of his t-shirt was a clear indicator of her anger over the situation she was reliving, so much so that Clint almost missed the fact that the tools along with his bow and quiver on the work bench were vibrating slightly.
"I had to go down into that fucked up alien city to stop Raina, that turned out to be my biggest mistake as the obelisk activated, I don't remember what exactly happened other than a liquid substance cocooning me and when I emerged I guess is the best word, Trip was dead almost at my feet. I lost it and destroyed the city, my out of control emotions fuelling me, my abilities."
His gaze drifted momentarily from Skye as the clattering of loose objects on the bench got louder, the soft gasp from Skye's throat combined with her hands forcefully shoving him back so she could scramble off the bench and back away from him had Clint more than a little confused. He almost missed her quiet muttering of;
"I'm barely human anymore. I'm as big a monster as he is."
Whatever Skye was doing was increasing in strength given that Clint could now feel the floor vibrating beneath his feet, her currently unstable emotions once again fuelling her ability, he could see her withdrawing into herself still mumbling quietly about monsters.
Clint closed the distance between them effortlessly in a couple of long strides, when he was close enough and before Skye had a chance to flee Clint reached out to pull Skye into his chest. Dropping his head so he could brush kisses against Skye's hair as one of his hands stroked her back soothingly Clint began murmuring quietly.
"Skye, my beautiful girl, my soulmate, none of this changes how I see you or how I feel about you. You are not a monster and anyone who says such a thing about you is going to be very lucky if they live to regret saying it when I'm done with them."
A loud crack and clang echoed through the room as one of the glass windows cracked and tools fell off the bench to the floor, startling Skye. As she tried to pull back Clint locked his arms around her and looked down to her face, meeting wide fearful dark eyes.
"Breathe Skye, I saw you last night with the window remember, you have some control over your ability so I know deep down in my gut that you can rein this in, beautiful."
Skye's shaky inhale of breath was followed by her arms wrapping lightly around his waist, her dark eyes drifted shut as her fearful expression shifted to one of concentration. In all honesty Clint wasn't sure her efforts were working straight away, at least not until the vibration beneath his feet gradually eased before ceasing entirely.
It was at this point the door to the shooting range burst open causing Clint to jerk his gaze from Skye as his head swung towards the door, his eyes narrowing slightly as his gaze fell upon Bucky and Jemma, the former pointing some form of gun he'd never seen before at Skye.
Tightening his arms around Skye, Clint turned them, positioning his larger body between Skye and his fellow sniper, he didn't miss when the vibration beneath his feet began again. Skye had almost had her ability reined in before the sudden intrusion had distracted her, he was vaguely aware of Jemma's quiet voice telling Bucky to shoot Skye.
"No Bucky, she's got this. Let her get this under control." Clint growled as his head turned to watch the indecision warring on Bucky's face.
"No she doesn't! She's never been able to stop it when she has an episode outside her control, we've always had to tranq her," Jemma snapped in a prim tone that Clint was sure had one of his brows raising in silent question, the disbelieving look on the petite scientists face rubbing Clint the wrong way. It was no wonder Skye had so little faith in being able to control her abilities if her own friends, her own family he mentally corrected, had no faith in her to do so.
"Have you ever given her a chance to try? Any of you? How do you expect her to learn control if every time she loses control you all rush in and tranquilise her?" Clint barked back.
He relaxed albeit slightly when Bucky at least lowered the strange looking tranq gun, though when Jemma reached to try and snatch the gun from Bucky he tensed, at least until Bucky's metal arm locked around the petite woman's waist.
"He has a point doll, if ya don't give her the chance Skye's never gonna learn control. I know you're trying to help her but at the moment I think your current methods are more a hindrance than helping." Bucky chimed in casually.
"You're right, Bucky." Jemma said quietly as she headed towards Skye, her hands held out as she murmured "Skye – I'm sorry. We've all been so scared of the possibility of the roof falling in on our heads that we've been working on prevention, not cure."
"Both of which are incorrect terms." Clint snapped brusquely, his gaze not leaving Jemma and her slow and steady approach. "I've known enough people with powers or abilities whatever you want to call it, one way or another, to know that trying to shut them down from using their gifts is a recipe for disaster. And Skye doesn't need curing. She's perfect as she is."
Jemma squeezed her eyes shut, shamed. "You're right too," she admitted. "Tell me what I can do. What we can do, to help Skye get through to the point where she's in control."
Clint's hackles settled as he saw just how truly remorseful Jemma looked. Bucky slid his arm around Jemma's waist again, pulling her to lean on him, bending his head to kiss her hair as he murmured;
"From what I know, doll? Time and practice is the only way. And," he looked at Skye, "acceptance. By you and those around you. And you're certainly in the right place for that. The Avengers even took me in. I'm pretty sure they've got a place in their hearts for you."
"Although not if you're going to keep breaking my windows," Tony's dry voice came from behind Bucky and Jemma.
Ward had taken his anger out on the small living room of the safe house, every piece of furniture currently upended and scattered precariously, when the door to the safe house opened he whirled, gun in hand, his narrow gaze locked on the door in the now dimly lit room.
As Agent Thirty-Three stepped in Ward lowered his gun to point at the floor, when she did a precursory sweep of the trashed room and arched one delicate brow upwards he was momentarily reminded of May. The other former agent who didn't even know her own name still wore the damaged face veil, though Cal had agreed to see if he could find a way to remove it.
Holstering his gun Ward turned on one booted foot to stalk back to the laptop in the kitchen, pointedly ignoring his companion's computerised voice quietly muttering a long strong of various profanities in various languages.
Ward knew he needed to focus on his problem now that the majority of the rage was out of his system, he needed to find appropriate help in dealing with Barton. Though he'd have preferred to deal with the former agent himself, he wasn't stupid and like everyone else who had been SHIELD Ward knew Barton's reputation.
The man had been Fury's number one cold-blooded killer for years, until he'd brought Romanoff in and then he'd been a very close second, though most people preferred to say they were tied for the title since mostly Fury had always sent them both out together.
While he had faith in his own skills Ward knew he was no match for Barton, he hadn't even been able to beat Barton's ranged distance shooting record in the academy no matter how many times he tried.
Though his and Barton's technical skills were similar, they were both trained as SHIELD specialists after all, Barton had an entirely different skill set that he'd come into SHIELD knowing and still used to this day.
Ward considered tracking down Crossbones right up until he recalled how loyal the older man was to HYDRA and after careful consideration scratched that name right off his mental list.
Working his way through the mercenary list that he could recall, Ward considered trying to locate Batroc but there were rumours that he hadn't been seen since Captain America had thoroughly kicked his ass.
Apparently he was even desperate enough to consider the one merc he swore he'd never work with, there was a reason Wilson was known as the merc with a mouth because once the deadly son of a bitch started talking you were lucky if you could get him to shut the fuck up again ever.
There was one other possibility that lingered in the depths of his mind, one that he'd overheard during a rather heated and venomous conversation between Fury and Barton, though he couldn't recall the name it had something to do with shot.
Deadshot? No that wasn't it, Ward was certain but it was along the right track….wait track, trick that was it, Trickshot! Turning his attention to the laptop he enabled the encryption and set to work hacking into the FBI's database, granted hacking had never been his forte but he had picked up some basic skills from watching Skye work.
Though his skill was nowhere near that of his girl's, for which Ward would be thankful when they finally recovered Skye and he could stop meddling with shit that was way beyond his skill set. It didn't take him long to find the file he was after and to ghost copy it using a program of Skye's he had procured from her quarters aboard the Bus while it had been in Garrett's custody.
After disconnecting from the secure database and disconnecting from the borrowed wifi Ward double clicked the folder he'd just copied and waited. Ward quickly read through the various charges either proven or assumed to be Trickshot's doing, nothing pointed him in the way of the man's true identity at least not until one line at the very end.
Trickshot thought to be FBI Agent Charles Bernard 'Barney' Barton, current location unknown and thought to be missing or deceased.
Was it possible, did Barton have a brother with skills similar to his own that Ward could use against him? This definitely required more research, and a meeting if Trickshot was still alive. Which Ward rather thought he might be. That argument between Fury and Barton he'd overheard had been long after the possible date of death listed in the FBI's files.