Hello! Is anyone still reading this? I guess I could just check the traffic stats, but I'm lazy lol
Also, I know I don't really have to use my disclaimer every chapter, but at this point, it's kind of fun to repeat it every time, so it's sticking around (unless of course, the rights to Marvel's Agents of SHIELD actually are handed to me, at which point, I'll no longer need my disclaimer) But for now:
I don't own Agents of SHIELD, if I did we'd all need therapy
It had been three days since their argument, and Skye and Maggie had slowly returned to being an iconic duo. Skye was still working on opening up about her emotions rather than pushing them down, and Maggie struggled to work through the past few months of complex trauma, but having the other around truly did help, much like Coulson had predicted. They spent most of their time wandering through the woods around the cabin, watching movies (Skye had a lot of catching up to do if she wanted to be able to understand even half of Maggie's movie references), reading, and playing card games (Skye was ruthless when it came to gin rummy). May had dropped in at the cabin the day before, bringing bags of groceries and updates on missions. Hunter and Bobbi had had some relationship fiasco, and Hunter had gone AWOL. Mack had followed him to keep the man out of trouble, but no one had heard from either of them since. While Maggie had a video chat session with Dr. Garner, May and Skye had worked on controlling her powers, which seemed to be going well. The two girls even dragged May into a few rounds of Spades before the older agent told them she had to head back to the base.
Now, Maggie and Skye were both in the living room reading after dinner, enjoying a fire that the hacker had made. The silence inside the small cabin was peaceful, as both of them relished each other's company.
"What day is it?" Maggie asked suddenly, shutting her book and breaking the peaceful spell.
"March 7th," the hacker answered, looking at her watch. "Why? Have somewhere to be?"
The teenager looked embarrassed. "No, it's not that. I just- well, tomorrow's my birthday."
Skye's eyebrows shot up and she closed her book. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"
"In all honesty, I'd forgotten. Pretty sad, huh?"
"How do you just casually forget your 16th freakin' birthday?"
"To be fair, we are in a cabin in the middle of nowhere."
"Well in that case, what do you wanna do on your big day?" Skye asked eagerly.
The teen shrugged. "I don't want anything special - I mean, we don't even need to celebrate. Last year on my birthday, we were hiding out in some warehouse in Arizona, so pretty much anything is a step up from that."
Skye was shocked at the notion. "Are you kidding? Of course, we're celebrating! I mean, this is your 16th birthday we're talking about. You can't just shove that one aside."
Maggie smiled, "Fine, then. I'll try to think of something fun for us to do." She stretched out her legs and put them on Skye's lap. The hacker rolled her eyes and shoved them off. "So, Skye," Maggie smirked, "when's your birthday, so I can bug you about not wanting to celebrate?"
"Actually, I don't really have one," Skye admitted, shrugging. "The sisters at St. Agnes kind of guessed on my age and slapped some fake date of birth on my forms. But we didn't really celebrate birthdays at the orphanage, much less at foster homes. God, I don't even remember the date they gave me…" The hacker's voice trailed off.
"That is bullshit!" Maggie gaped at the hacker. "You can't just never celebrate your birthday."
"I usually just pick a random day, buy myself a piece of cheesecake, and watch old Disney Channel original movies in my bed. Perfect day."
"Nope," Maggie insisted, tapping her foot rapidly. "You and I are having a joint birthday tomorrow. Your official date of birth is now March 8."
Skye's heart swelled with gratefulness. "Thanks, Maggie."
"Always. So, what do you say to this: we binge-watch random shit all day, eat an entire batch of pasta between the two of us, and then finish the night off by devouring an entire chocolate cake?"
"That sounds absolutely perfect."
"Well then," Maggie said, standing up, "I'm going to head to bed. See you in the morning, birthday girl."
Maggie woke up to the smell of bacon, which is quite possibly the best way to wake up. She lay in bed for a few minutes, enjoying the savory smell. All at once, Maggie remembered with a smile what day it was and, rolling out of bed, stumbled sleepily into the kitchen. Skye was laboring over a pan of sizzling bacon.
"Happy birthday!" Skye grinned.
"Right back at ya. Breakfast smells amazing." Maggie took a seat at the table, which was already set with plates, silverware, and glasses. A carton of orange juice and a gallon of chocolate milk sat in the center of the table. She looked at Skye, impressed. "Since when are you such a good cook?"
"Well, I'm no Philip Coulson, but I can make bacon and eggs," the hacker joked, using a fork to pick up the pieces of bacon and laying them on a plate. She grabbed the bacon and a plate of scrambled eggs and carried them to the table. "Bon appetit."
"God, this looks amazing," Maggie gaped, scooping eggs onto her plate. "Thank you for this."
"It's not much," the hacker replied, "but I also figured we should save room for the entire cake we'll be eating tonight."
Maggie tapped her head playfully. "Very smart."
"I have a profound thought every once in a while."
Their joking banter continued long after their plates were empty, as they sat at the table enjoying way too many glasses of chocolate milk. Skye tried to open the windows to let the spring breeze in, but they wouldn't budge, so she pulled back the curtains instead. The sun filtered through the pine trees outside, giving the room a warm, cheerful glow.
"You know what sucks?" Maggie said aloud, finishing off her chocolate milk. "We don't have any birthday presents for each other."
"We don't need presents," Skye answered, throwing her arm around the girl and squeezing her tightly. "Besides, I illegally downloaded Mean Girls last night, so consider that my gift to you."
"That sounds so fetch," Maggie grinned.
"What the hell is 'fetch'?"
"You'll understand very soon."
"Look, I know I shouldn't judge you so harshly, but you have absolutely no idea how to make pasta, do you?"
Skye and Maggie had spent the entire day watching movies, and now, as the sun dropped behind the trees, the two of them had decided to make chicken alfredo pasta. Unfortunately, Skye turned out to be fairly terrible at cooking when it came to pasta.
"Shut up," the hacker replied ruefully, stirring the alfredo sauce. "At least I didn't try to throw a noodle at the wall."
"It's what you're supposed to do!" Maggie insisted, flipping over the chicken. "My mom taught me that."
"Was your mom a good cook?"
"Yeah, she was, but she and my dad weren't usually home long enough to do a lot of cooking." Maggie sighed. "They spent a lot of their time on missions. My aunt more or less raised me."
"Wow. I had no idea."
"It was just the way it had to be, you know?" Maggie replied nonchalantly. "And the times that they were home were always really special, even if they were short and we spent the whole time dreading a call that would drag them back to work."
Skye nodded, unsure of what to say to that. She poured the saucepan of alfredo sauce into the pasta and mixed it together.
"Sorry for ruining the moment with my tragic backstory," Maggie apologized sheepishly, adding her chopped up chicken to the pasta.
"You didn't ruin the moment," Skye told her. She elbowed the girl playfully. "I'm glad you told me."
"Me too," the teen smiled. She got out two bowls and divvied up the monstrous amount of pasta. "You know, I never asked you about how meeting your dad went. I feel like a jerk for not asking."
Skye waved her off. "You were basically dead, Maggie, don't apologize." The two of them carried their bowls to the couch and settled on the sofa. "It went about as well as can be expected."
"What was he like?"
"A psychopath," Skye replied quietly, twisting her fork around in her pasta. "He cares about me in some dark, twisted way. Oh, and he hates SHIELD. Says they took everything from him."
"Wow. I bet that was a lot to take in."
"Yeah, uh, it was. I don't really know what to think anymore. I feel like in any other universe where none of that shit he went through when I was a baby had happened, he would be a good person. But honestly, I don't think I ever want to test that theory. I've finally gotten the information I've spent my whole life searching for, and I paid the price." Skye held up her bruised hands. "My search is over, and now, I can move on." The hacker chuckled a little. "Now who's the mood killer?"
Maggie took a massive bite of her pasta. "I don't think you killed the mood. I'm the one who asked."
"Touché," Skye replied. She grabbed her laptop and set it down in front of them. "So, Clueless?"
Maggie eagerly shifted in her seat to get closer to the screen. She looked at Skye and nodded. "Clueless."
It was nearly 10 o'clock when Skye and Maggie remembered that they were planning on making a cake. They opted for a box mix, and Maggie added the ingredients whilst Skye stirred. After a few minutes, the hacker noticed Maggie's sullen look and stopped mixing.
"Everything okay?" she asked the teen.
Maggie shrugged. "My dad hasn't called at all today."
Skye's heart sank. "Why don't you just go ahead and call him? I'm sure he has a logical reason for not calling yet."
"I guess," the teen sighed, grabbing her phone from the counter and walking into her room, holding her phone to her ear. She returned only seconds later, frowning. "No connection."
"Huh," Skye replied, biting her lip. "Go outside and try again, I'll work on it."
Maggie nodded and trudged out into the woods. Skye abandoned her cake mix and walked over to her laptop on the table. When she attempted to get on the Internet, it immediately read 'No Connection'. Frowning, she knelt down to examine, her fingers traveling the length of the cords until they reached the wood-paneled wall. Skye noticed a loose board farther up the wall and tried to pry it out but to no avail. Grabbing a small screwdriver from a cabinet, the hacker tried again, and gasped at what she saw.
The wood paneling covered a thick metal wall with small, black hexagonal shapes. Skye knew this wall pattern all too well - she'd spent the past few weeks in a room made of it. She pulled back another board and then another and noticed a large indention in the wall. It was in the shape of a fist about ten times the size of hers. She pressed her hand into it, tears stinging at her eyes as everything clicked into place.
Before Skye could react further, her phone buzzed and she dove for it. If it was Coulon, she had some choice words for him.
"Skye?" The voice wasn't Coulson's, but Skye immediately recognized it.
"May? What the hell is this place-"
"You need to get out of there now. Both of you." Skye could hear the panic in the older agent's voice.
"What's going on?" Skye asked, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
"There's a control panel on the southwest corner of the compound. It'll let you bring down the laser grid fence. You need to run. Take Maggie with you. They're coming for you."
"Who's coming for us? May, you're not making any sense-"
"SHIELD." There was a click, and May's voice was gone. Instantly, the lights in the cabin flicked off, and Skye's phone alerted her that she'd lost connection again. She panicked for a few seconds before grabbing her jacket and sprinting out the door. As soon as she stepped off the front porch, a bright light flashed in her eyes and the deafening roars of multiple planes could be heard.
"Maggie!" she screamed, running into the woods. "Maggie!"
A searchlight landed on her, and Skye scrambled to hide under a tree. Panting and shaking, Skye decided that if she could disable the fence first, Maggie had a better chance of escaping, even if it wasn't with her. Skye could hear the planes landing and knew she didn't have much time. The agent took off running, trying her best to avoid roots and fallen limbs as she made a mad dash for the panel.
Finally, she found a small box with a beeping green light and breathed a sigh of relief. Before she could even touch it, she felt the heat of someone's breath on the nape of her neck. Skye whipped around, grabbed the attacker's wrist, and pointed his gun in the air before he could shoot her. The soldier fired it into the sky, alerting everyone of her location. Skye cursed under her breath before kicking him in the stomach as hard as she could. Barely winded, he aimed a punch at her jaw that Skye deflected, surprised by his skill. With his full tactical gear and well-trained movements, the soldier was a challenge to take down, but Skye was eventually able to knock him to the ground and delivered a solid punch to his face. Out of breath, the hacker grabbed his gun and aimed it at him, but before she could shoot, she heard someone scream her name. Skye looked up and saw Bobbi about fifty yards away standing next to a tall, bald man who had a gun aimed at her. Before she could run, the man fired at her, and Skye's hands automatically flew up in front of her face to shield herself.
What happened next felt like it was in slow-motion. One moment, a bullet was whizzing towards her, then suddenly, a large quake shot out of her hands, pushing the bullet away from her. The force from her hands continued to grow as trees were uprooted and stray sticks went flying. Bobbi and the other man were thrown several feet backward, a shard from a branch wedging itself into the man's chest. The force continued to destroy everything in its path before Skye finally dropped to the ground in shock and exhaustion. Shaking violently, she surveyed the damage around her. Everything in front of Skye for nearly two hundred yards was flattened. The clusters of trees that had stood strong only seconds before were now completely gone.
"Skye!" Maggie appeared behind her, out of breath. "Thank God you're alive-" Her eyes grew wide as she saw the damage. "Y-you did that?"
The hacker could only nod as she rose.
"I thought you had your powers under control!"
"No. The cabin- it's- it's a containment module - a powerful one."
"But you were doing so well-"
"It's all a lie," Skye whispered, her voice breaking. "SHIELD thinks I'm a monster."
Before Maggie could answer, the two of them heard men's voices shouting and the sound of footsteps coming closer.
"We have to go," Skye instructed, grabbing Maggie's arm. When she looked up, however, she realized that they were surrounded by men with guns pointed at the two of them. Skye and Maggie threw their hands up in surrender, but before the men could act, a flash of blue light appeared. Suddenly, Skye and Maggie were inside of a bright, blue bubble, and everything outside of it seemed to happen in slow motion. Maggie noticed there was someone else inside the bubble - a man. She gasped when she saw his face - where his eyes would be, there was nothing but skin. He looked straight at the two of them as if he could somehow see them.
"Do you want out of here?" he asked. His voice was polite and calm as if he hadn't noticed that the two girls were about to be killed.
"Who are you?" Skye shouted.
"Do you want out of here?" the man reiterated.
"Yes!" Maggie interrupted, and the man nodded. Instantly, there was a bright flash of blue light, and then they were surrounded by nothing but darkness.
The last thing Maggie thought before she lost consciousness was: "Aw, shit, my chocolate cake."
Maggie's panic about her cake is a mood. Hope you enjoyed!