Author's Note: Trigger warning in the end notes.
Previously: Skye and Lincoln's enclosure's at the museum were extended to include an outdoor area with a jungle gym.
About Three Months Ago:
Skye relished in being outside. It gave her something to do as opposed to the absolute absence of such that was driving her made before the little door had been opened. Not to mention it was an easy way to build her muscles back up and revel in the crisp air. She only had one reservation about being in her outdoor section: she was lonely, as she couldn't see Lincoln from there.
Well, and she was still a prisoner, but that was her only reservation given her already crappy situation, of course.
Also bugging Skye was when visitors came out onto the viewing canopy to watch her outside. It was her safe haven in this place and she did not want them there. CAMI would tell Lincoln and Skye when tours were going to come though. Skye would go inside as fast as possible in order to avoid them seeing her in her jungle gym, not wanting them to taint it for her. Though there was one instance she had allowed it. Skye had wondered if she wouldn't have to perform if she remained out there, but the stupid cylinder just followed her by popping up on the ground outside. Skye made sure she was inside for the tourists ever since.
Making sure to be indoors at these points was also Skye and Lincoln's unofficial way of always being there for each other when the people came to oggle. To hold a distraction, a face to look at while they were performing their circus act. But Skye didn't even mind so much anymore, it was just normal by now. So what if people wanted to come marvel at her? As a SHIELD agent, it could be so much worse. She could be tortured in a Russian camp. She could be back at the fighting pits, hurting innocent gifteds while she had to worry about her and Lincoln's safety, not to mention the others who were in in constant danger.
But while Skye was trying to adjust to the situation that was their ever-solidifying reality, Lincoln was allowing himself to spiral into it.
Reassuring smiles went away. He refused to play their games like rock, paper, scissors or attempt to speak with their manic hand movements. He'd sulk.
Skye wanted him to go outside; it always felt so good to her and would lift her spirits. She liked it when they'd go at the same time. She'd hate to leave him alone inside just to get some sunshine.
But no matter how much she'd try to ask if he wanted to go, some days he wouldn't even acknowledge her. He'd sit and pout on his ledge, which Skye supposed was the next best thing. At least he could smell the air next to the open door.
She still worried for him.
Perhaps he didn't have quite as much of an elaborate area as her, or maybe there was something out there that he dreaded. Skye couldn't be sure. Though, by their limited "speaking" through movements he seemed to have described the same sort of thing that she had.
Skye didn't know what to do for him except sit inside with him as company, but sometimes he'd turn his back on her. She felt betrayed by that; all she wanted was to be there for him.
So she'd go outside and exercise, but she'd never hold it against him. The situation was still revolting and if he accidentally hurt her feelings during his depression, she could deal with it.
One thing she could not deal with, apparently, was the day she woke up to find her door to the outside closed for business.
"CAMI!" she shouted. "CAMI, wake up or whatever."
She blinked on. "Does Quake have an inquiry?"
"Yeah, Skye does have an inquiry," she said, always insisting to try and get the AI to use her name. Not that it was ever going to happen… "Why is my door shut?"
CAMI beeped vaguely. "This system does not recognize 'your door'. This system finds no proprietary is permitted for Quake and other specimen."
"Oh shut up," she screeched in annoyance. She was already peeved, she didn't need the reminder that she was just property to them. To a freaking A.I. "The door to the outside. Why isn't it open?"
"Special visitors are to arrive today. Such visitors will remain inside, and thus the specimen will remain inside."
"For how long?" Skye asked.
"Twenty-four hours," CAMI answered uniformly. "Does Quake have any more questions?"
"Uh, yes," Skye said, thinking quickly. "Who are the visitors?"
She wondered if it was some kind of royalty or political prospect, being 'special visitors.' Maybe the hoity-toities didn't like to get sun on their skin.
"Quake does not require this information," CAMI informed her, to which Skye was disappointed but unsurprised. That happened more often than not. "Does Quake have any more-"
"No. Go away you stupid voice," Skye muttered, waving her hand.
"CAMI is a digital interface," she said evenly, as per flipping usual.
"Fine then! Go away you stupid digital interface."
Skye crossed her arms as the blue light blinked off. Lincoln was across the way, cocking a curious brow. Probably wondering what she had called the robot over for. But if he paid any attention to her love of the outdoors and knew that his door was shut as well, he could have figured.
Skye perhaps should have taken the time of being forced inside to communicate with Lincoln, but she just moped, and he seemed perfectly apt to do the same.
A few hours later the 'special' visitors came, and Skye was absolutely floored by who they were. What they were.
Children.
It was a freaking field trip or something.
Skye sat on her ledge with her arms around her knees and scoffed. The green mini-humanoids were prancing around the place like it was a park, giggling and playing, gawking at everything.
Two boys and a little girl suddenly were in front of Lincoln's place, pointing and staring. Somehow it made her so much angrier than when adults did it. With older beings, it had been like seeing them, the Inhumans, was a privilege. That at least it meant Skye and Lincoln were special enough to draw the attention of people from other worlds.
If kids could come… it must not have been that hard in the first place. They were locked up and treated sub-human not because they were priceless gems, but because they were worth less than a mutt you could pick up at the pound.
Skye was so mad she couldn't bear to so much as look for a while, but when she did her mouth fell right open.
Lincoln was directly up against his threshold, holding out sparks for the kids to see as a smile played heavily on his face. As though he were truly happy to be entertaining these brats. They clapped and egged him on, loving it when he moved the electricity from hand to hand.
Skye was so affronted by the sight she didn't notice the little girl in front of her own pen until she tapped lightly on the forcefield.
Skye wasn't even aware the guests could do that. She would have been blasted backwards, just like she'd been on her first day here.
Skye placed her chin heavily on her knees, staring back ahead. CAMI had not toldl her to perform yet and she didn't see any reason to do it early.
"Come here little Inhuman! Come here…"
Skye's head perked up at the sound that rang through her room.
It was the little girl, speaking through some sort of intercom. Could they always do that? Had the kids been the only one to care enough to use it?
The green haired girl began puckering her lips together to make kissing noises, the way you'd call a cat. Skye decidedly stayed put.
"Oh wow, is this another Inhuman?" a boy running up asked.
"Yeah! But she won't come closer…"
"The other one was sooo cute!" an even younger girl than the first said, who had came over along with the boy. "He could make electricity."
"What's this one do?" asked the boy.
"Hmm… mani- uh, manipulate seismic energy," she answered, reading Skye's sign with some difficulty. Clearly not advanced beings, thought Skye bitterly.
"Sweet," the boy said, nodding his head approvingly.
"What's that even mean?" asked the littlest girl.
"I dunno, something cool," the boy surmised.
"Come here, Quake!" the first little girl called. "Show off your powers!"
"Make things shake or something!" the boy shouted.
"My name isn't Quake," Skye muttered half-heartedly to herself, almost an automatic response from saying it to CAMI so many times.
"Daisy! Preeetty Daisy, come here," the littlest girl said as if she were cooing to an animal. "That's such a lovely name."
"Maybe she likes Skye, that's the coolest," said the boy. "Here Skye!"
Skye picked up her head immediately. The name she hadn't heard in months now sounded foreign but so welcome to her ears. She couldn't help but become intrigued.
She tentatively picked herself up and walked over to the gawking and excited kids. They were waiting.
She smiled, turned around and pushed a force into her bed. At the kids' cheers, she strained her hands upwards as her whole room began to shake.
After impressing them, she got down and their level, only alluring them more. The smallest girl, who had curly hair nearly to her feet, placed a hand on the "glass". Skye met it, her palm hovering before she thought she'd get hurt.
"Please," Skye said, "can you hear me? I don't want to be here. Can you help, is there anyone you can tell?"
Skye wasn't entirely sure why she was asking. Perhaps because it was the first time she realized there was a chance to communicate, or maybe her mind assumed that since they were kids there might be more sympathy left in them than their older counterparts.
But the little girl merely beamed, giggled, and skipped away, leaving Skye's hand against the wall lamely.
"Aw, she really is pretty," the first girl appraised, ignoring Skye completely. Either they couldn't hear her, or they'd been conditioned to not give a damn.
"I like the guy one, his power is sweeeet," the boy said. Then he lifted a finger, repeatedly tapping it near Skye's nose, speaking to her in a 'baby' voice. "You're just a dainty little Inhuman. Aren't you, aren't you?"
Skye roared at him. Literally. A scream ripped from her throat and she raised her hands as though she were going to attack, scowling and snarling like a wild beast.
At least it scared the kids away.
Skye breathed heavily, succumbing to anger as she allowed it to easily flow through her.
Meanwhile, Lincoln stared at her with green eyes full of concern. She didn't care. If he'd given up, why shouldn't she?
If these people wanted her to be a feral zoo animal, she could oblige. Animals will hurt anyone, the wild ones at least. They're unpredictable, and they could target whoever was in their path.
Including herself.
How Skye had suddenly seemed to forget they were prisoners being treated as subservient dogs because they opened a damn door for her, Lincoln didn't know.
He had been cautious about the new happening in the first place, just because anything made him feel wary in a place where others as cruel as these could decide his fate so readily and freely.
Then, when Lincoln walked outside, it was worse than he could have imagined.
They'd given them a play set.
So now they weren't just slaves, they were mindless children. Animals with a toy, monkeys at the zoo… the vibrant colors were all the more insulting.
Just because he'd play along to not be hurt didn't mean that he had to amuse them by jumping around on a toy like a kitten in a cat tree. As if to prove his point, next to his area he could see the leopard, prowling around its own structure.
Though his didn't look like Lisa Frank had puked on it.
Lincoln knew he should search for ways out, observe his surroundings. But there was more time for that in the future, he guessed, if going outside was a weather permitting thing. He wanted to go back inside and show Skye his defiance.
Except Skye didn't come back all day.
And when she did… hell, her eyes were coated in such a blissful haze he thought she'd been drugged.
But no, she just showed them the exact animal they wanted her to be. An idiot little hamster, so pleased to play with her wheel.
Under different circumstances he could have enjoyed the jungle gym. Maybe if he were drunk or just feeling particularly immature. But not here. Not when it was given to them by these people. And Skye seemed to act as if it were a present of some sort. Like she should be grateful.
They drifted apart in the weeks following their doors to the outside being open. Lincoln did appreciate the draft, but no way was he going to indulge these people. Let them think they'd given him something.
He didn't even know who "these people" were. With all the alien visitors, it seemed plausible that their 'owner' could be alien as well. It didn't matter. If they considered anything a handout, Lincoln would be sure not to take it from them.
Which was exactly why, on the day the kids visited, he wanted to give them something.
The voice hadn't told him to use his powers. The rods hadn't come up. But the kids were so genuinely interested and it wasn't their fault he was locked up. They weren't some uppity people coming to shame him, they were just kids.
So, he wanted to play with them and show them what he could do. Gain their interest.
Then he tried to show them that he was upset. A way of saying "look at me, notice me, help me get out of here."
Maybe they could appeal to their parents, or something. Whatever. It was a long shot and he just enjoyed showing his powers to people who actually appreciated them as opposed to expected it of him.
Then of course there was Skye, moping and sulking like a toddler in the corner because she'd been cut off from her playground for the day.
Lincoln wasn't mad at her. Disappointed, maybe. Mostly he just pitied her. This was what months of imprisonment had done to her. He could only imagine what years would do to the both of them.
No, he wasn't angry. He was scared. The fear just took form of judgment against someone who didn't really deserve it.
But then she engaged with the kids like he had. It was… cute. Seeing her face light up for something she was doing of her own free will, mirroring their hands.
Suddenly her smile began to drop, and… was she talking with them?
Then she hissed or maybe growled; she did something absolutely terrifying and feral with bared teeth and all the kids went screaming away.
God… Skye was falling fast all of a sudden.
She began pacing her room, anger and frustration evident with every step she stomped. She began pulling at her hair, clawing at her arms. Hell, she was acting flat out nuts.
The blue light blinked on and he wondered what CAMI was saying to her. Whatever it was, it only made her angrier, her face visibly red as she shouted back.
Then Skye became still, her arms out in front of her. She closed her eyes.
Dark purple bruises began manifesting on her wrists.
"Skye, no," he whispered in horror, watching her deliberately harm herself. He ran up to the threshold. "Skye, stop!"
She was twitching and shaking as the marks became darker, began spreading. An alarm began sounding through the building and the kids started screaming and running, after which Lincoln finally spotted the green adult who had been supervising them.
He didn't care about any of that. He just wanted Skye to stop before she seriously hurt herself. Before she was beyond repair.
Skye fell down, obviously straining herself to an excessive point, but he saw her hands remain clenched. Was she trying… trying to end it?
No. She couldn't be doing that. There was no way Skye would attempt… suicide.
Right?
C'mon, don't leave me. I can't do this without you.
Lincoln was frantic to do something, anything to get her attention. Maybe if she saw him doing the same thing… His shocks didn't really harm himself, they resided on his body all the time. They were generated from there.
He threw himself at the wall.
It was with all his strength and he bounded back to the floor in a heap, clutching his pained shoulder. Then he did it again.
CAMI showed up. "Static will stop harming himself."
"Not until Skye does!" he shouted, throwing himself at the force field that once again spit him back out like distasteful food. "And you can feel free to tell her that!"
CAMI blinked and beeped. "Quake has been informed. Static will stop, now."
He glanced over at Skye's enclosure. She was on her side, her head facing him and twisted so she could see him. She was weak, her eyes barely open.
He crashed against the wall once more to prove his point, alarms still pounding into his ears along with the headache he now had.
Skye's head dropped, her breathing heavy. Her muscles no longer appeared taut. She wasn't hurting herself anymore.
But she looked like a living bruise.
God, how many fractures must she have given herself? Why the hell would she do that?
Before he could think anymore of it, a cylinder with small sliver on the end of it came down from the ceiling, a mist spraying from within it.
Lincoln was out before he hit the floor.
Author's Note:
TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide attempt. Ish? She's not too aware of exactly how much damage she was causing herself as she was nearly blinded by anger, but that's where it was heading.
The response I got on the last chapter was so nice guys! And on such a short chapter, too) I was tempted into updating early. So thank you for that :) Let me know what you think of this one!