A/N: Wow it's been forever since I last updated this story which is so sad cause this one of my favorites to write. The holiday break is coming and with those free days writing awaits. Odds are the story is going to diverge more from canon than it has in the past, focusing on the areas that are vastly different. Anyway agents, thank you all for your patience (it's truly amazing) and sticking around with this story (I'm forever grateful).
On with the show!
Summary: 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 Five
Coulson had been spending majority of his time in his office. Currently he was looking at his holographic filing system, courtesy of Simmons who had transferred the BUS's system to the base. The box Fury had given him was filled to the brim with important stuff he had never seen, one thing that caught his eye in particular was a file about an obelisk that agent Peggy Carter had discovered during the early stages of SHIELD.
He spoke out loud, "Keep an eye out for this."
The spoken words are encrypted and added to file as he closes it down, hitting a button on his desk. He hears a knock, bringing his attention away from the desk. Skye stands there at the door with a less than pleased expression. Originally that would have been a sign of bad news, but these past couple months that just became her resting face. No longer did she have a passive or childlike expression, it was always neutral or serious. It bothered him and May, but neither would comment on it. He opened the door allowing Skye access to the office.
"I just wanted to report that Mack and Trip are working on the cloaking, so" she paused, "I'm free if you want me back in the field."
Coulson answered swiftly, "That won't be necessary, May's still out there."
Skye questioned, "What about Hartley and Idaho?"
Coulson said nothing to the younger agent. They were gone, he didn't want to say it. Skye watched him with a concerned expression that shifted to one of surprise and understanding. As Coulson moved to stand behind his desk, Skye let the realization wash over her.
"They're not out there, are they," whispered Skye softly, she inhaled sharply, "It was that thing, wasn't it? The object."
"It was Creel," was all Coulson said as he returned his attention a file.
Skye stood in front of his desk, determination in her eyes as she said, "Sir, I need to get back out there and help May take him down."
"No," came the short reply.
"She's my mo- S.O. I'm a field agent and I can handle myself out there," argued Skye.
Coulson replied simply, "That's not what this is about."
Skye huffed in annoyance, "Then what is it about? The object? The symbols? Because I can't help if I don't know what's going on."
Coulson moved around the desk to stand in front of her, "If you'd like to help, go down to the bunks, pack up Hartley's things."
Skye wanted to argue, but she accepted defeat, "Fine."
The hacker agent walked away from her boss, but she paused at the door. Coulson may be the leader and had to put up a front for everyone else, but it was a little more than concerning to her.
"I know you're the boss and you have to compartmentalize everything, but it's not healthy. You need to loosen up. Try…yoga or something," Skye suggested with a small shrug.
Coulson offered her a wry smile, "I tried, but I'm not flexible. But thanks."
Skye said nothing else as she closed the door behind her, leaving Coulson alone. Her mind floated back to her mother, she hoped with every piece of her that she would be okay. Going down to pack up Hartley's things would be painful, she forced herself not to imagine doing this with May's belongings. The very idea pierced her heart.
Her hand clenched in a face, she would not pack anyone else's stuff and send it to their loved ones. This had to be the last person they lost.
Fitz was sitting at his work table, a pencil in his right hand that moved between his fingers.
"We were so close," he said out loud to 'Simmons' as he stared ahead at the clutter.
Simmons was leaning on the table, her chin resting in her hand as she listened intently to Fitz.
He continued, "If they'd just given us a little bit more time to calculate the object's… the objects uh-"
Simmons supplied, "The refractive index, yeah. That's the problem these days, everyone needs answers immediately. No one has any patience anymore."
Fitz nodded absently, "Yeah."
He turned his head to look at one of the other workers here to see if they were looking at him. When he saw their attention was elsewhere, he looked forward again with a bitter expression. His anger and frustrating filling his veins. No one thought he could do anything anymore. He was just some helpless damaged boy to them now, not a brilliant scientist who could take care of himself.
"I bet they're relishing the fact that we couldn't crack the cloaking device," Fitz growled out softly.
Simmons frowned at him, "Don't be silly, Fitz. Everyone here knows how valuable you are to the team."
Fitz rolled his eyes, "Well, they avoid me like the plague."
He stood from his chair and walked away to a different table with his head low. It was true, people were hesitant to be around them because they feared upsetting and he knew his inability to come up with words in a timely manner caused problems. People grew uncomfortable when he stood there for too long, they also became worried when they provided the word he was looking for and his response was to shout that he knew.
Simmons followed him closely, her expression concerned. "They do not," Simmons insisted, "They – they just have their own problems right now."
Fitz continued to walk away as he replied, "Oh, yeah. The Creel business."
He could understand everyone being on edge, but he was tired of being treated so differently. As if he were some fragile bird who was going to break at any moment. He could take care of himself, he could still do things if he had just a bit more time. All that had changed was his ability to get the words out at a normal rate, otherwise he was still the same.
Simmons spoke again, "In fact, perhaps they need our assistance. If they're looking for a way to neutralize Creel's ability..."
Fitz replied, "No one has our experience with gifteds."
"Of course, we can't just hijack the project from them. That would shatter their confidence," said Simmons with a soft expression.
Fitz nodded slowly, "Yeah, no. Do not want to do that."
"No," Simmons said.
"Or do we," asked Fitz curiously.
Simmons turned away as she sighed, "Fitz…"
Fitz shakes his head, "Yeah, yeah, no. No. Stupid, silly idea. I don't know why I said-"
He paused when he noticed Simmons was looking at a computer printer. She moved closer and Fitz followed until he was beside her. It's information about Creel, his DNA and other research that had been gathered.
Simmons decided to comment then, "There's a whole package of research they just left laying about all willy-nilly for anyone to see."
"Creel's DNA," whispered Fitz as he held up the papers.
Simmons clicked her tongue, "Interesting. Shall we see what we can do with these?"
Fitz glanced around the room before answering, "Yes we shall, Simmons."
Creel had been sitting in the diner for almost an hour now. He knew staying in a public area for too long would increase his chances of being caught, but he couldn't bring himself to move. It was kind of nice to just sit there and pretend he lived a normal life. It was wishful thinking on his part. He rolled his sleeve to look at the burned and crisp arm, he had tried several times to get it to turn back to normal, but the skin wouldn't change. It was starting to freak him out the longer it remained there. He noticed the waitress coming back and rolled his sleeve back down.
"Everything alright, still waiting on your friend," she asked with a sympathetic look.
Creel nodded, "Yeah still waiting."
She replied, "Alright, no hurry.. Here, I'll move this out of your way."
The waitress reached over to take his empty glass, but her arm brushed against his. It felt as if electricity pulsed through her, she couldn't contain her gasp of surprise and dropped the tray she was holding.
Embarrassed she said, "I'm so sorry."
She starts to pick up the items she dropped, "Must have been static electricity, that was quite a shock."
Once all the stuff has been picked up, she walks away back to continue her work. Creel watches her with slight interest and a bit of concern until she is out of sight.
May had been sitting outside the Cafe for a little under an hour, watching and waiting for Creel to do something consider she was on recon. Though she would have rathered take him in now, her boss was telling her otherwise much to her annoyance. For the most part all she had done was sit on her motorcycle, either stare at Creel or get a bit distracted people watching. The ladder was more entertaining. Coulson said in her ear, "What's the status on Creel?"
May replied, "He's been in there for over an hour. Either he's waiting for a drop or he's getting drunk off his ass."
She sighed heavily, her annoyance showing more so than before. However a high pitched scream reaches her ears, one of pain instead of terror. Without delay, she gets off the bike and runs inside the diner to see what's going on.
The woman who had come in contact with Creel died shortly after the blackened state of her arm spread throughout her body. There was nothing anyone could have done to stop it. Even though May knew this, she still felt the guilt of not doing anything sooner. If Creel had been removed from the area sooner, the woman likely wouldn't have died today.
When the police arrived, they removed the woman wearing protective gear and making sure she was completely covered. It didn't make sense for Creel to hurt a random waitress, though Coulson had the suspicion it wasn't intentional. Creel had the ability to take the power and shape of whatever he touched, he touched the Obelisk and must have copied its powers.
Coulson ordered May to go dark and return to base as soon as she possibly could, no arguments. She started to head back.
Coulson was still sitting at his desk, he had messing with a paperclip. He put it into a shape that was on the Obelisk, he would give it to Skye to look over. Though part of him wanted to be concerned about the increasing problem, he knew there were more important matters to attend to. Whatever was going on with him would have to wait.
When May had returned, she realized she had another message from Cal. They were going to meet again soon. Hiding this from everyone, including Skye, was slowly eating away at her. Though she really didn't want to tell Skye the truth, she knew she had to. It didn't take her long to find the younger agent, even though she was busy Skye put everything aside when she saw her mom wanted to talk. After everything that happened, Skye really needed to be close to her for a bit. However when the two were alone, it did not open with pleasantries.
And Skye was pissed. Really, incredibly, pissed at what she had just realized. Even though Skye knew she was overreacting, her own anger was clouding her judgement. How could her mother be doing something so reckless? It was unlike her.
May sighed exasperated, "Glaring at me isn't going to change what I told you."
Skye's jaw clenched, "No, but it's better than the words I have in my head."
May raised an amused eyebrow, "I'm sure it is. Though you care about to tell me about your secret endeavors with that anonymous source?"
"That's different," Skye said, her tone turned sour, "You went alone to an unknown threat who could have done all kinds of horrible things and you didn't tell anyone."
"Skye," May started, but her daughter wouldn't have it.
"No, no. We just lost an agent and ally, Idaho and Hartley are dead," Skye swallowed thickly at those words, "And now you're telling me about these secret meetings with someone you know is threat? What if something happened and we didn't know where to find you?"
Skye glanced away, it sounded familiar now that she said it out loud. After all, her own secret meetings weren't much better. Especially considering the person she met with, despite his claims about trying to get on the right side of things. May leaned back in her pilot's chair, the mother and daughter would often retreat to BUS pilot room to talk without anyone else around.
The other agents who roamed around didn't know their relationship, only Fitz, Coulson and Trip knew. To everyone else, May was just Skye's SO and fellow teammate. It was better to keep the information that they had a more personal connection hidden from those they didn't trust.
"I haven't even told you who I was meeting yet," May sighed, knowing that would be another battle.
In actuality May did not want to tell Skye who she was meeting with, as it would create more questions and complicate matters. However May did not want this deception to blow up in her face down the line. The last thing she wanted was for Skye to lose faith in her after everything they had been through to build up that trust in the first place. Twenty years passed between them without any contact, May couldn't risk losing a single minute now.
"That doesn't matter, what matters is the danger and recklessness of it," Skye explained with a look of bitterness, "Stop taking pages from my book."
May scoffed at that, "If anything these are pages from my younger years."
"So you should know better," Skye argued, she folded her arms over her chest.
May sighed, "I'm not going anywhere. We are both more than capable to handle almost any situation thrown at us… I need to tell you something else."
Skye frowned at May's change in demeanor. Her shoulders had tensed slightly, the expression she wore was not one Skye liked to see. Apprehensive was what she would use to describe the look.
"What is it," asked Skye, lowering her arms to her side.
May inhaled, this was going to be hard, "The person I've been meeting… I didn't and still don't want to tell you who it is, but you have the right to know."
Skye leaned forward, "I can take it. Who is it?"
"It's your father Daisy," May said, "The first night we arrived here, he sent me a message. I've met him a handful of times."
Skye had not been expecting to hear anything like that. May had only told her a couple of things about her father, who he was and where he could have gone. At first Skye thought he was dead, though May did tell her there was no way to know. Hearing that he was alive and had been speaking to her mother since they came to the Playground… she was shocked to say the least.
"You, you've been talking to him," Skye said with a look of disbelief.
May nodded, "Yes."
Skye felt her heart pounding faster, "Why? Why did he contact you now? What does he want?"
"He wants to meet you," May answered honestly, "Not now though, not yet."
"Why not now," Skye asked confused.
The word inhuman echoed through May's mind. That conversation she had with Cal weeks ago, about she and Skye were not entirely human, but had descended from alien hybrids. Experiments created by the Kree on humans. At first she thought he was out of his mind, well she already thought that, but now more so. It wasn't until he pulled out a trinket with weird symbols and pressed it into her hand. The small symbols glowed in the dark night.
"I don't fully understand it so I can't explain it," May decided to say, "When I know more, I'll tell you."
Skye glanced away, "I'm not a fan of that answer."
May reached forward and took Skye's hand in her own, "I know you aren't. Listen to me, I don't know exactly what game Cal is playing, but I cannot afford to let you be hurt in it. Please Daisy, let me handle this."
Though Skye wanted to argue, the pleading look on May's face was one she couldn't ignore. Without saying anything, Skye nodded to show she understood. May quickly wrapped her arms around Skye much to the younger agent's surprise, though she returned the gesture without delay. It was still so new to Skye to have a mom, to have someone who was her parent and worried about her in this way. She didn't think she would ever get used to it.
"I love you so much," May said in a hushed tone.
Skye grinned, "I love you too mom. Though remember you love me when I tell you this."
May pulled back from the embrace with a curious expression, "Tell me what?"
"The person I've been meeting, it's Ward," Skye confessed.
"What," May said without holding back her anger.
"Remember you love me," Skye reminded her.
May replied, "Of course I still love you, but why on earth do you think it's a good idea to meet Ward? Of all the anonymous sources-"
"Mom, calm down," said Skye.
"Please explain yourself," May said, looking more like a cross parent than she had in weeks.
Skye sighed, "He sent me good intel, most of it has checked out. We've been able to find a lot of stuff because of him."
May frowned, "That doesn't forgive what he did."
"I know that," Skye said quickly, "I'm just saying he's been useful."
"I don't like that," May replied sharply.
Skye chuckled, "I know you don't, but you trust me and have taught me well. I can handle this."
May knew that was true, "I'll still worry and don't think I won't track you down and beat him to death if something happens."
Skye smiled, "I'll remember that. Now come on, we still have work to do."
