Connections 36
Steve and Skye both looked shocked and turned to each other, both silently asking what they should do. Steve gulped before cautiously asking "Bucky?... Bucky is that really you?" Bucky groaned and looked to his arm "I can't say that it's me, I am not me anymore punk." he replied his voice unnaturally hoarse and full of guilt. Steve looked at Bucky with sad eyes as he looked his friend over trying to figure out if this was all a ploy or if it was in fact real. "This isn't possible... This is a trick right?" exclaims Steve running a hand through his hair in frustration.
Skye cleared her throat and suggested "Steve your too close to this and by that I am too close in extension. Let's have Hawkeye and Black Widow determine the diagnosis." after a moment of mentally debating with himself he nodded in agreement, clasped her hand and let the room with her at his side. Clint and Natasha instantly noticed the troubled expression on Steve's face and instantly turned to Skye. "Doe, what is wrong?" asked Clint moving to her side noticing her impassive demeanor. She cleared her throat and replied "The Winter Soldier is now responding like Bucky, he has Steve convinced but he wants more opinions. We were hoping that you and Nat can look into it? See if you can trip him up if this is a ploy, Steve is too close to this. So everyone has to do it, just don't hurt him."
Natasha agreed instantly with their logic and nodded her consent, while Clint noticed that Skye was observing Steve with concern. "Why don't you two go and relax , show Steve some movies that he hasn't seen. We got this." suggested Clint with a warm smile. Skye smiled in thanks to him and helped Steve hobble down the hall. Steve sighed rubbing the back of his neck as he sat down on the sofa and grabbed the Coke and popcorn that Skye passed to him as she sat down beside him. "I am going to introduce you to the Hobbit series, it's the first parts of the Lord of the Rings trilogy."
Steve shrugged as the lights dimmed and the movie called Hobbit The Unexpected journey began.
Two and a half hours later
"So what did you think?" asked Skye turning to see Steve still staring at the screen with a gob smacked expression. He turned to her and asked "Is there another movie that continues after this one?" She immediately nodded and he broke out into a smile before replying "I think that was by far the best movie I have ever seen! Can we watch the next one?" he asked with a hint of an enthusiastic kid showing. Skye smiled and replied "Sure we can veg out and watch the whole hobbit trilogy." She looks up to the ceiling and says "Hey Jarvis, do you mind putting on the Desolation of Smaug on please?"
A second later the movie started, about half way through Skye began to get restless. She stood up and began to stretch making Steve's full attention turn to her as she winced. "Are you okay?" he asked pausing the movie as he looked at her with concern. Skye bit her lip before shrugging "I just pulled a muscle, it irritated one of the bruised ribs that's all." she noticed that his face began contorting into one of guilt. "Skye I am sorry, I should've never let you get between the Winter Soldier and I... I am the one that's suppose to protect you, instead you had to get hurt to protect me." he said looking away from her filled with remorse.
Skye moved to embrace Steve when out of no where Ward appeared, "Agent Walker! Director Fury is on the line, he wants to speak with you immediately." Steve and Skye tensed involuntarily and Steve turned away making her sigh and reassure "This isn't your fault, I will be right back." She followed Ward up to the command center to see that Fury and Maria Hill were on the screen. "Hey Nick, Maria... What's going on?" she asked with a smile, happy to see her mentors after a few days. Maria smiled warmly at her while Nick began his usual impassive talk. " Agent Walker, I need you and Agent Ward on a mission. A new computer technology program has thrown up huge red flags, several hacks have come from a company known as Quinn Industries.
Skye's face went from happy to emotionless in less than two point five seconds, making Agent Ward arch an eyebrow quite impressed. "Sir, Wouldn't this be against protocol ? You know I worked for Quinn Industries, specifically under Ian Quinn himself. I know that place like the back of my hand and I developed that programming code. Ian Quinn is a friend sir." she replied honestly wondering why Quinn was hacking in the first place. Maria crossed her arms and pursed her lips "Agent... Skye, it's for those exact reasons that we are sending you and Agent Ward in." Ward came to stand at Skye's side and looked to her with a smile "Looks like we will be working together."
Skye's eyelid twitched slightly looking to him before turning to her directors and asking "It was my understanding that Captain Rogers and I would be partners on all assignments Sir. Why am I being assigned on a mission without my partner Captain Rogers?" Fury's eyes narrowed "Because I believe that you need to be able to rely on other people other than your partner. Plus this isn't high priority enough to bring in an Avenger yet. I sent the debrief packet to Agent Ward, a car will be waiting for you guys at 06:00." Before Skye could retort the screen went black making her growl in annoyance. "Just perfect." she muttered before noticing that Ward was watching her with a peculiar expression.
"Skye... If you don't want to work with me, I can come up with some excuse to get out of it." he offered looking slightly hurt at the idea, she immediately felt horrible for the way she had been acting. "No no that's not it at all, I love working with you. I am just use to working with Ste- Captain Rogers. We can meet after dinner to discuss the file and our mission, I will inform my partner as well as the rest of the Avengers." she said slipping elegantly into her agent demeanor. Ward nodded in acknowledgment before walking out of the room, Skye stood there and groaned "Ah rats... Blue is going to be mad." she said before walking to the stairs and going down the long way.
She found Clint down at the gym range doing target practice as he always does at this particular time. "Hey Blue." she greets slightly timid watching as he puts three arrows through a flying ball. Clint stayed focused as he greeted her "Hey Doe, what have you and Cap been doing?" she asked aiming and then firing at another target. She smiled as she replied " Steve and I watched some of the Hobbit trilogy but then Fury wanted to speak with me so I had to go the command center." Clint's shoulders tensed slightly before he causally asked "What did the pirate.., I mean my dear boss want?" Skye bit her bottom lip before quickly replying "I am needed for a mission, I leave in the morning and Ward has been assigned as my partner."
Clint immediately spun to face his sister, his grip on the arrow lost as it flew and missed the target completely. "WHATTT!?" he exclaimed wide eyed and quite honestly shocked. Skye tensed slightly and began to go impassive "Director Fury contacted me with a mission, I didn't really have any say in the matter and he chose Agent Ward to be my partner since the mission isn't a high enough threat to bring in a Avenger such as my partner Steve." she says emphasizing his every word . Clint took a calming breath and stated " He is making you go on a mission when you are hurt!? And with Agent Ward of all people!?" his tone got so high that Skye fought back a cringe and took a slight step back. She slowly nodded at his questioning look before replying "He doesn't know that I have been hurt, we agreed not to tell anyone about Bucky, remember?"
Clint frowned before taking a calming breath "But this whole Agent Ward having your back thing makes me mad. Steve should have your back, he is your partner and you two work well together." he said hanging his bow on the wall where he keeps it. "There is nothing I can do Clint, if I try to get out of it Fury will suspect something and then Bucky will be in serious danger. I could never let that happen, Bucky deserves better than to be locked away." Clint noticed the fierce protectiveness in his sister's eyes and was curious as to why she was so protective of some one she didn't know. "Well I will let you break the news to Cap and the rest of the Avengers. I wouldn't want to be you, sorry."
Before Skye could retort he walked out the door, leaving her nearly gawking at the place he once stood. She huffed "Perfect." she looked towards the punching bag and smirked "Putting in a little time can't hurt." She went straight towards Steve's reinforced punching bag and barely gave herself enough time to wrap her hands before she attacked the bag strategically. She pulled back to throw a huge punch when her back cried out in protest "Ah... Ssssss owwww." she hissed, her hand immediately going to the stitched gash across her back. "Right ... Bucky got me on the back, I almost completely forgot about it." she said running her head and frowning as she felt a few drops of blood run down her back from the gash. "I better find Natasha, she can help with the torn stitches." she mumbled before throwing the hand-wraps into her locker and moving carefully out the door.
After looking on two different floors Skye finally looked up to the ceiling "Jarvis where is Agent Romanoff?" she asked only to suddenly tenses when a voice spoke up from behind her "I am right behind you." Skye spun around to see Natasha standing in front of her with Steve at her side. Skye sighed "I was looking for you, I was wondering if you could check my stitches? I may have accidentally tore a few." she said looking completely at Natasha who crossed her arms and glared "And what were you doing that caused you to tear these stitches?" she asked getting into a over protective mother mode.
"I was training, Fury has a mission for Ward and I. We leave in the morning, so I would be grateful if you could patch me up quickly?" she casually replied maintaining eye contact with Steve who looked shocked. "A mission? But you are hurt, you still have ribs on the mend and you haven't fully gotten control of your powers. Why is Ward your partner on this one? I am your partner..." he said with various emotions popping up. Skye frowned "I know but Fury doesn't know about me being injured because we aren't telling him about Bucky. He assigned Ward as my partner because the mission isn't a high enough priority for the use of an Avenger. And I guess he is confident in my abilities at this point. I don't like it either Steve, but , I am a Agent of Shield and until that changes I have to go where I am told. Don't worry tho, I will check in daily and will be back before you know it." she said with a cheerful attitude and a huge smile that he noticed didn't quite reach her eyes.
Steve shook his head before sighing "I will go so Natasha can patch you up. Come find me when your done." Skye sighed watching Steve walk off as Natasha pulled her into the lab to get stitched back up.
-Authors Note- Sorry for the long wait, been really busy but I hope you liked the update! Please review to let me know your thoughts!
Thank you for reading.