A/N: On the shorter side, but next chapter will be on the longer side so it will balance out. Can't say I'm too pleased with the chapter, but I'm excited for the next one to do well.

Once again thank you all for the follows, favorites and reviews! All of you are amazing agents and deserve the best of the world! Also happy Father's Day!

Skye had spent all her life looking for her parents, only fate would have her move down the hall from her mother, Agent Melinda May, the Cavalry. In SHIELD Skye had found the one thing always wanted, a family. She had it all, until it fell apart and now she will do everything in power to hold on and never let go


Chapter Four

The information from Skye's source proved right, much to Skye's relief and annoyance. Having to deal with Ward always left a bitter taste in her mouth, though she knew the truth behind his actions and could understand to some degree, it was just hard. All that time he lied, all that time he pretended to be something he wasn't and he used them, all of them.

It was killing her on the inside, in a way he managed to break her heart. She couldn't get over that so easily. Simmons hadn't been able to let it go fully, but she was in much better place than Skye was with Ward. For her, she knew his intentions were good.

Though she was still upset about what happened to Fitz, she couldn't put the full blame on Ward like that when it wasn't completely in his control. Skye knew Simmons was right, but she didn't want to admit it. Her heart still felt the ache of betrayal, she wasn't sure anything would really change that.

The meeting with Coulson, May and Koenig had gone well enough, they were able to find Creel and got Talbot into their custody. It was still a mess, but there were positives to the whole endeavor. And the fun didn't stop there. Skye grinned to herself as she left the meeting area, they had gone over the plan one final time and she had to admit she was a fan of it.

There were a lot of crazy ways it could go, but she wasn't bothered by that. If anything she was excited. Missions took on a whole new meaning to her after the fall of SHIELD. The adrenaline was stronger and now that she felt more prepared, it was as if nothing could really stop her.

Of course lots of things could stop her, but she was confident enough in her abilities that it wasn't or wouldn't be an issue now. Not too long after their meeting, everyone was ready to go.

Trip was dressed in his uniform that Skye couldn't help, but to laugh at it, though he did look good. For him it was nice to be a uniform like that again. Skye has taken to dressing in all black clothing, though no one would say it to her face, it was clear she was taking pages from May's book.

Originally May refused to train her. It had never been hard for May to compartmentalize things, but Skye made it difficult. Though after several debates, May agreed to. She figured if she was going to continue to send her daughter out there, Skye would better prepared with her mother teaching.


May was taking point on this assignment while Coulson stayed behind to work with the comms. Since the fall of SHIELD May took more and more field missions, she helped out by being the center rather than just a get away or observer. It pleased Skye to no end.

The point was to get a quinjet and the a missing SHIELD 0-8-4 that had been taken. Trip, May and Skye we're taking care of getting a plane, one that had cloaking technology and was exceptionally fast. Hunter, Idaho and Hartley were in charge of getting the 0-8-4.

Skye sighed as she leaned against the concrete wall, it would turn out fine. She had a good feeling about it. Through the chaos Skye and Trip were able to get a plane in the air, they were separate from May who left on a motorcycle to meet up with the others.

The altercation with Creel went south, it could not have been worse. Hartley had the object in hand and it was killing her, causing Hunter to try and cut off her arm. It wasn't enough. Creel came and Idaho tried to avoid hitting him. The car ended up flipping a few times, the impact killing Idaho and Hartley was already lost.

Creel took the object and left the mercenaries there, this left Hunter alone in a busted car with two of his friends dead. He couldn't breathe, he knew it was panic and not an injury, but it didn't make the situation any better. Bruised and bloody, he tried to get out, but was jammed in.

May had come by and tried to get him out, but Creek was on the move. Hunter told her to go, he wasn't as important and if she stayed not only would Creel get away, but the soldiers on their way would capture both of them.

On any other day Hunter would have made a remark about May hesitating to leave him, considering she wasn't his biggest fan, but now wasn't the time. His friends were dead beside him, he was beaten up and Creel had a dangerous object they spent several weeks tracking.

May left as soldiers came in view, she did what she could to help and now she had to stop Creel before he got too far away. May caught up to him, saw him in his stolen car and would have taken a shot if not for Coulson in her ear telling her otherwise.

She mentally cursed, this day had gone awry too quickly and she wasn't sure if SHIELD could take any more losses.

Coulson wasn't doing well either. The guilt weighed down on him, but he couldn't focus on that now. He had agents still out there, he needed to get them home. Luckily two agents arrived to greet him, the quinjet parked in their hangar.

Slye and Trip made a pretty good team, it was common for them now to be paired on several ops. As Coulson observed Skye, he internally frowned. After all this time, the hacker girl he picked up was fading away. It upset him to no end to see that spark fade and barely an ember remained in its place.

Coulson nodded to Skye and Trip, "You got the Quinjet. Well done."

Skye & Trip answered at the same time, "Thank you, sir."

"Any word about Hartley," asked Skye.

Coulson shook his head no, "Not now," Coulson turned to Trip, "Let Mack know the jet's here. I want him reverse-engineering that cloaking hardware right away. The sooner he does, sooner we get The Bus operational again."

Trip grinned, "Roger that."

Trip leaves then off to talk to Mack while Skye remains in her spot. Coulson knows she has more to say, but first he'll take care of her first concern.

"Your mother's fine." Skye quirked a brow, "That's not what I was going to ask." Coulson made a face and the hacker sighed, "Okay fine. That was part of it."

Coulson grinned at her, "Yeah. What else you need?"

Skye replied, "The item that messed up Hartley's arm, it had those weird symbols on it."

Coulson didn't bother to hide his surprise, "The same symbols? You sure?"

"Yeah, the same ones you," answered Skye, "They come up out of the object. It reminded me of Braille. It was like Hartley triggered something by touching it. What the hell is that thing."

Coulson said, "I have no idea, but good work. Now we have other things to worry about. A five alarm called Hunter."

Skye frowned, "He was captured?"

Coulson nodded, "If he talks, our entire operation's compromised. We'll have to burn the base and evacuate."

"Oh God," Skye said.

The thought of it made her stomach twist and the beginnings of a headache followed. All the stuff they had here would be packed haphazardly and what they couldn't bring would be lost forever in ashes.

Of course she was also worried about Lance's well being, but she knew he could take care of himsefl.

Coulson sighed, "I know. And we just re-tiled the bathrooms."

Without another word, Coulson walked away leaving Skye to her thoughts. Though she couldn't dwell on it long, she had to speak to Fitz.

He had been working on the cloaking technology for so long and now it was like the work was for nothing. The nights she found him muttering and slaving away trying to finish it for them.

I'll, I'll get it. It's just, just, just ah… hard! Yes, uh hard.

Skye found him in the lab where he tended to spend most of his time with an imaginary Simmons. Fitz knew it wasn't really her, he really did, but he needed her around.

When Simmons left, Fitz had nearly crumbled and relapsed. The biochemist claimed she was leaving because she didn't think she was helping his recovery, but Skye figured she was leaving because she couldn't handle it.

The thought annoyed her, but she never focused on it for long. Most of her anger was directed at Ward. After a few minutes of walking, Skye found Fitz in the lab leaning over one of the tables, rocking slightly.

"Fitz," Skye called causing the scientist to jerk.

"Wh-what," Fitz said in surprise, "Oh hey Skye."

Skye offered him a small smile, "Sorry for the scare."

"It's, it's fine. What are, are you doing… uh what are you, you doing here," Fitz asked putting down something he was fidgeting with.

"I came to give you an update on the mission from today," Skye told him, "We got a quinjet. It does have cloaking tech. Once we get scanned in, we're bringing it here."

The hurt look on Fitz's face was worse than Skye thought it would be, but it was gone as quickly as it came. He looked away then.

"I'm sorry about this Fitz, I just thought you should know," Skye said when Fitz remained silent.

She wondered if she should say more to him or if t would be better to wait for him to speak on his own. Pushing him too far was never a good way to go, but sometimes he needed the nudge in order to make progress.

"Do you want to come see it," Skye asked him after several moments of silence.

Fitz hesitated, "I uh, yeah. Yeah sure."

Skye lead Fitz to the BUS where Trip and Mack were looking at the cloaking hardware. Thought Fitz wasn't sure he should have come at all, he didn't want to disappoint Skye or distance her.

She was like the little sister he never had and he wanted to be there for her, he hadn't been doing a good job of that lately. He hasn't been there for anyone really. Looking around the BUS, it brought back bittersweet memories from days that felt like years ago.

"So, so many memories here," Fitz said quietly as he followed Skye.

She looked at him with a kind smile, "Yeah. I miss those to."

Fitz nodded in understanding. All of them missed those days.

Skye entered the lab with Fitz at her side, "Hey guys."

Trip and Mack looked up from the table. The cloaking device before them.

"What up," Trip greeted, though he eyed Fitz with slight nervousness, "We're just looking at the cloaking hardware."

"Just in time to," said Mack with a slight grin, "We're about to pop the hood up."

Mack opened the cover to reveal several sections of lit up chips. There were wires all over, connecting everything together. Mack and Fitz could understand it's components, Trip and Skye were fairly lost by it. Mack took out one of the chips with a pair of tweezers and observed it.

Trip looked at Fitz, "Sorry we got it before you finished man."

Fitz waved doff the apology and made no verbal reply. He was tired of being treated so fragile, like he would break at any moment. They just wanted to help and be there for him, but he was tired of everyone walking on eggshells around him. Especially since Simmons left him all those weeks ago.

"Coulson wants a retro version of this for The Bus," Mack explained putting the chop back in place, "He said that no one knows the avionics on this thing like Fitz."

Fitz looked at Mack in surprise.

Mack just grinned, "You know you weren't far off with your work. Check out the transmitter coil here."

Fitz nodded unsurely, "Yeah, to negate the, the resonant, the…The resonant? No, um…the, uh…"

Fitz sighed, he knew what he was trying to say, but he couldn't get the words out. Why was it so hard? He knew of course any it was so difficult to speak, but it was still so frustrating. Skye could see him getting frustrated and she knew he wouldn't appreciate being comforted by anyone here.

"Would it be easier to sign it," Skye asked him hesitantly.

After Simmons left and it was harder for him to say the words, Skye suggested he learn sign language. It was a struggle at times for him to remember all the words, but she found he was able to 'speak' more easily with his hands than his voice.

Fitz glanced at her, his eyes glazed over. It wasn't a bad idea and he had taken to both BSL and ASL. He alternated between the two and had pretty much blurred the two sign languages together.

"Uh no, no," Fitz said with a head shake.

Mack spoke then, "He's talking about the audio component to the cloaking. It inverts sound waves too."

Fitz nodded, "Yeah."

"So like noise canceling headphones," Trip inquires looking at the device.

Mack replied, "Yeah, same concept. What do you say Fitz about helping me out with it? You know it best."

Fitz looked at him uncertain and lost, "Um, u-under the circumstances, um…well, the trick is you would…the trick – the trick would be in the mete-materials…." Fitz sighed and shook his head, "No, I, I uh have to go."

Without another word, Fitz walked out of the room leaving Trip, Skye and Mack alone. Skye looked the most upset of the three of them. Sometimes he was still the same Fitz, but those moments were few and far between.

It was so hard to see him this way and know that there was hardly anything she could do to help him.

"I'll catch you guys later," Skye said before leaving them with the cloaking device. There was plenty of work left to do.