Not as long as I would have liked but after reading the reviews I had to post something. I will defo be posting more soon! I have submitted all of my assignments apart from one 3000 word essay so once I've completed that then I will have all the time in the world to write my stories over xmas. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the support! Hearing what you have to say makes me smile so so much. I had a request for more Philinda and Skye so here you are. Not a lot but things will be getting more close in the coming weeks... bare in mind Skye has just come out of a hell and has never had anyone to rely on before but I'm looking forward to playing with that dynamic. Anyway please leave a review and let me know what you think! And also check out my other story Chasing Hope if you like this one, they are very similar in style and themes but different. Oh and is it too early to say Merry Christmas!
"Well done team"
Coulson was perched behind his desk whilst the rest of the team gathered around in front of him, battered and bruised but more alive than ever.
"I want you all to rest tonight and then tomorrow we can start going over everything. Did you get the files?" Coulson asked.
"We grabbed everything we could" Hunter replied.
"Good, sift through what you can in the morning" Coulson responded.
"Uh Sir, question." Hunter interrupted raising his hand whilst Bobbi hit it back down, "why is Skye and Lincoln here? All the other powered individuals were sent to another facility and the children were returned to the Government for their parents to be contacted. Skye should be with the others. And what happened to Ward?"
Before Coulson could react, Bobbi stepped forward "Ward took off. He said something about putting things right and to get Skye to call him when she's ready to hear what he has to say. Skye is currently sedated and recovering in one of the med pods, it's adaptable to her powers so hopefully it will supress any uncontrollable quakes, Lincoln's here to be a friendly face to her. We believe she is still in danger with Whitehall still out there and here's the safest place we know. Plus she's been through a lot and in the end, despite how tortured she's been, she helped us. Yes, before she may have been a vigilante or Hydra's puppet but now she wants what we want"
"How can you be so sure?" Hunter countered trying to ignore Bobbi's stink eye.
"Whether you like it or not she's been through hell and now we give something back to her. She's special, Whitehall knew that and we need to find out why and help her" Coulson stood up ending any more questions. "Now Skye will be kept sedated until tomorrow morning so until then rest"
The team spent the night resting all apart from Simmons and Fitz who were combing through the data they had stolen from the facility.
"Fitz look at this" Simmons said pointing at her computer screen "It's a sample of Skye's blood. Her DNA is completely different from normal DNA it has extra macromolecules. Her powers are unlike what we've seen before, they seem to be from the inside, a natural occurrence. Whitehall may have activated something inside her but he didn't give her any powers. It looks like the scientists at the facility noted this too. There's also something else, another subject, subject 225A who seems to have similar DNA to Skye. Perhaps they are related? Which would make sense as to why Skye is also called 225. The things in these files though Fitz… they're horrific"
Fitz approached Simmons and closed the file in front of her "Coulson was right Skye has been through hell but that's why we're here, to fix Hydra's mistakes. Now we need some rest, come on"
The next morning the team had a quick briefing on how to proceed and then got to work. Simmons, Bobbi, May and Coulson all headed down to the med pods where Skye was sleeping peacefully, her hand strung up to a drip whilst her small fragile body seemed like a child's in comparison to the bed she was lying in.
"We cleaned her up last night as much as we could and gave her new clothes. That allowed me to examine her injuries properly." Simmons took a shaky breath before continuing "her hair as you can see is patchy, some of it has been ripped from her scalp and was bleeding and most of it was too knotted and unkept for us to fix it. When Skye wakes up we will have to cut most of it off. As a child she clearly wasn't cared for. Her body is severely underweight and malnourished, in certain areas her bones haven't developed properly and she has a numerous amount of scars and bruises all over her body. She uh, she has several broken ribs and a broken arm all of which have been broken previously uh countless times before. I'm also afraid about her brain. Whitehall basically fried it and according to Bobbi and her files her memory was already a bit shaky so we won't know what she remembers fully. The files were incomplete but we managed to put together a vague timeline. The experiments she was subjected to, well I'm surprised she's still alive at all" Simmons finished.
The team stood in a stunned silence before Bobbi opened the door "She's waking up, I'll go in first and then introduce you all."
"Daisy I have a surprise for you"
Skye stood up closing her book about earthquakes and setting it aside, "yes sir?"
"I think it's about time you went on a proper mission"
Despite her fear Skye let out a small squeal of delight "Thank you sir, I won't let you down!"
"You better not"
Skye rushed to gather her combat clothes and gear before heading up to Whitehall's office. She had been here for about ten years now, training non-stop, being experimented on and it was all leading up to this. Now she could prove herself to Whitehall. In preparation she had gone through many different scenario's in her head, she had to be perfect. Shutting out all emotion like she was taught was harder than she wished, she was too nervous. She was going outside! It had been so long that she'd forgotten what it looked like. Was she scared or excited?
"Daisy about time. Now there's one rule we have to adhere to out in the real world. It is extremely important so we don't attract any unwanted attention ok?" Whitehall bent down so he was level with the girl.
"Ok what's the rule?" Skye asked.
"You have to call me dad"
"Skye, Skye can you hear me?"
Where was she? Her head was pounding, and she could feel the vibrations of people near her. Everything ached and felt fuzzy, like she was in a dream but not, a sort of limbo.
"Skye"
Who's Skye? She liked the name Skye and Daisy.
"Try to open your eyes"
Why? Why should she open her eyes? Because you will get told off if you don't they will take you and fry your brain again. That hurts.
Slowly, she started to open her eyes. The bright white ceiling felt like it was burning through her retinas. For the first time she could start to hear things around her, there was a steady beeping and a buzzing which felt really loud…
Suddenly she could see a face above her, it felt familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on who it was.
"Hey Skye, how are you feeling?"
Answer her. But she couldn't her mouth felt funny and her brain couldn't make her lips form the right words. It felt like a weight was tied to her tongue weighing it down.
"Do you want some water?"
Without knowing why she nodded. It felt like the right answer.
Carefully, the lady managed to pull Skye up into a sitting position and put some water to her lips. With much effort Skye managed to take a sip and she felt it slide down her throat extinguishing the fire that was there.
The room started to come into focus. She could see a few people hanging back whilst the blonde lady sat on her bed. There was a big TV to the left of her, the biggest TV she had ever seen and a couch. Why did the walls and floor have to be white? It hurt her eyes.
"Skye?"
Everyone was looking at her "Who's Skye?"
The people in front of her all took a sharp intake of breath.
The lady on the bed let out a small cough "Hi, my names Bobbi. There was an uh incident where you got hurt so your memories might be a bit fuzzy. Your names Skye and does the name Whitehall mean anything to you?"
Whitehall. Suddenly memories started flooding back. Pain, so much pain. The heart rate monitor started blaring loudly and the room shook slightly. Everyone jumped forward to help calm the frantic girl but Bobbi stopped them with a wave of a hand "Skye listen to my voice. It's okay".
"Bobbi we need to-" Jemma interrupted but Bobbi overrode her.
"No I've got this! Skye calm down, take deep breathes. Your brain is catching up but it's okay it will be over soon"
Skye felt a hand on top of hers and her heart fluttered. She yearned for connection but every time she tried she was always shut down apart from with Ward.
After walking down the street in the dead of night they came upon a small motel.
"Daisy unfortunately I can't come any further with you. But don't worry I've hired my best agent to help you achieve your goal, you must learn from him" Whitehall said.
Skye peered up at the tall man in front of her, he seemed strong and focused but something about him unnerved her.
"Hi my names Ward, Grant Ward"
"Ward. Ward he knew all along. I remember. He was Hydra. We done missions together and then I escaped but he didn't take me back. He told me he wasn't Hydra, he lied to me all along"
May stood silently watching as Skye seemed to go through several different emotions. Her eyes flickered like she was watching a film whilst she frantically muttered to herself. She wanted to reach out and help her but there was nothing they could do.
She was nine years old and they shaved off her hair.
She was ten and she was allowed her first ever chocolate bar.
She was eighteen and running for her life…
The episode seemed to seize and Skye slowly became aware of her surroundings again.
"I remember. I remember everything" she whispered.
"How does that make you feel?" Bobbi asked.
Skye shook her head "I need to go. I have things to do." Skye went to jump out of bed but as soon as her feet hit the floor she fell down in a yelp of pain. The drip which was attached to the girls hand ripped out and blood started to pour from the hole.
"Skye!"
Bobbi moved too quickly and Skye raised her hands in defence forcing the blonde haired lady backwards into the opposite wall. Simmons ran to see to Bobbi whilst May and Coulson approached Skye. She must have realised her mistake as she dragged herself to the corner of the room shielding her face with her hands. Her body was shaking and her breathing fitful.
May crouched down low trying to seem less intimidating and Coulson followed suit. Andrews words of advice rung in her ears 'she's going to be afraid, get down to her level'.
"Hi Skye, I'm May and this is Coulson. You're a great fighter I can tell. You were always one step ahead of us. When I was learning to fight Coulson here always wanted to spar with me but he wasn't that good" May said.
Coulson let out a small sound of protest, bringing his hand up to his chest in a mock wounded position "I will let you know that I was far better than May, I just thought I would be kind and let her win"
"Uhuh of course you did. That's why you always sit behind a desk nowadays" May replied with a small smirk playing on her lips.
"That's because someone here needs to be the voice of reason" Coulson hit back.
The two voices rang out playfully and Skye had never seen anything like it. Throughout her life people had been angry or annoyed, sometimes even sympathetic but this was different. It was something so foreign but she desperately wanted more. Slowly she dropped her hands and her breathing steadied out as she listened to the banter. The woman in front of her seemed scary but there was a glimmer behind her steely eyes which drew her in and the man was the complete opposite of Whitehall. Whitehall always wore a suit and his glasses enhanced his cold eyes but this man, Coulson, wore a shirt and tie. The tie was slightly lose and his shirt slightly untucked not in an untidy way but in a carelessness way. His eye's were soft and funny whilst his mouth was up in a constant smile. She felt like she could trust them but that was always a mistake.
"I don't think there's any harm staying behind a desk, there's a lot less pain" Skye chipped in.
The couple looked to the young woman with disbelief before quickly snapping back to their previous relaxed postures.
"Do you want me to help you back to the bed?" May asked.
Skye nodded "I'm sorry I freaked out, I didn't mean to hurt Bobbi"
"I'm fine Skye it's okay" Bobbi spoke up, "I'll go and see if we can get some food down here for you"
Bobbi left whilst May helped Skye up and towards the bed. She was so light and it made May feel slightly nauseous. She could literally feel Skye's bones poking her through her shirt. May carefully lowered Skye back into the bed whilst Coulson pulled back the covers. Once Skye was in, out of instinct he went to take her bloodied hand but Skye flinched.
"Ah sorry" Coulson said backing away.
Skye just looked at him with calculating yet fearful eyes. She felt strange. She was in an actual bed with people who seemed to care about if she got better or not. She couldn't remember the last time she had fresh clothes or a pillow, maybe never. Everything she ever had was second hand or stolen but it never mattered because there was never anyone around to feel embarrassed. A few days ago she would've wished anything to be out of Whitehall's dungeon, hell her whole childhood she had wished that but now she wasn't sure what to do… she got her wish but it still felt like another nightmare.
"When can I leave?" Skye asked.
"Well you need to get better first, your body has a long road of recovery and we still don't know the full damage to your brain yet. Plus you have superpowers. I'm not sure if your aware but we're SHIELD, we specialise in the weird and abnormal like your powers. Until we understand them fully and know that you aren't a danger to yourself or others then you have to stay here. I'm sorry" Coulson replied.
May shot him a warning look but Coulson stood up and turned to leave. As he did so Bobbi walked in with a bowl of soup. One look at the girl on the bed sent red flags to her mind. She could tell something had just happened but didn't know what.
"So I can't leave?!" Skye yelled "I get out of one prison and then get trapped in another? I have to get out! I need to find them!"
The room started shaking again and Bobbi ran to get a tranquiliser but May shook her head "find who?"
"My family"