"I miss you," Skye whispered to her mother. She'd never met the woman, at least not since she was old enough to remember, but she always felt a connection to her. What orphan wouldn't?
"Skye, what are you doing?" May asked from the doorway. The girl was sitting on the dresser stool in May's bedroom, pressing her hand and cheek against the window. When she heard the woman's voice, her eyes widened and she scrambled to sit up, embarrassed.
"Nothing," she mumbled.
May sighed, setting her scrapbook on the dresser. "I'm sorry I told you so much last night, I know it was a lot to handle. I'm sorry I don't know much about your story. I'm sorry I ever lied- "
"No, no, it wasn't you," Skye assured, standing up while rubbing her arm nervously. She stepped toward the scrapbook and lifted it up. The front picture space had an index card slid in instead, that read, "FIRST MISSION W/ PARTNER PHIL COULSON." Her face lit up as she opened the front cover. A young Melinda and a man of her age were pictured, smiling at an outdoor restaurant.
"Spain," May said quietly, a small smile forming on her face. "We went there to inspect an overseas bank account."
"You really like this Phil, don't you?" she asked the older woman, turning to look at her face.
Melinda chuckled. "Skye, I'm married."
Skye shrugged as she turned the page, revealing a selfie of them jumping into the ocean off a cliff. "That never stopped anyone."
"You're serious?" Skye asked, smiling from ear to ear. "You're going to help me find my parents?!"
"I feel like a terrible agent for this, but screw it," May said with a sigh. She grabbed her keys. "Better to do it sooner than later."
Skye's jaw dropped to the floor as she gathered up her things. "I'm going to SHIELD with you?!"
May closed her eyes, composing herself. "Yes, Skye, I am taking you to The Hub." She handed her a nice blouse and dress pants. "Go put these on."
"This is literally the coolest thing I've ever done," she said to May from the other side of the bathroom door. "I can't believe this. I'm going to the headquarters of a top-secret government agency that specializes in dealing with extraterres- "
"I know what my own organization is, Skye," Melinda quipped, slinging her purse around her shoulder.
Skye babbled the entire walk to the car, then the drive. It wasn't a short drive to The Hub, so finally, to May's relief, the girl fell asleep.
"What'd I miss?!" Skye asked excitedly, jolting awake. Her eyes widened when she realized they had arrived at The Hub. Her jaw dropped as she watched May pull into the parking garage. Agents with their business and tactical suits entered the building and she got a peek of the base from a big window next to the elevator.
Skye jumped out of the car as soon as it came to a stop in a parking spot. May grabbed her lanyard from the glove compartment and slid it over her head before standing and getting out of her car.
"Is anyone going to suspect me?" Skye asked. She looked at Melinda and blinked. "I kind of have a baby face."
May shrugged. "It'll be fine. People trust me. Plus, Phil is going to meet us there."
Skye smirked. "Oooo, Phillllll…"
May playfully slapped her arm. "Oh, hush, you're such a child." She reached into her car, handing Skye some sunglasses. "Here, wear these."
She slid them on as they began walking toward the elevator. "Are you sure they aren't suspicious? That I'm not?"
"As I said, they trust me. Plus, you fell asleep in the car, so you have no idea where we are."
Skye opened her mouth to say something then closed it. "Fair enough."
"Good day," said a British man in the elevator when they stepped in. He was thin and tall, and had wrinkly greyish-peach skin and white hair. He wore a black suit and sunglasses, and Skye puffed up a bit with pride, feeling a sense of belonging.
When the doors opened to the main level, Skye had to kick herself to stop from gasping. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of agents walked this way and that on a huge open floor. Some were tapping their earpieces, talking to who knows who, while others had tunnel vision and were barrelling straight toward wherever they needed to be. Skye's heart fluttered a bit when she remembered her reason for being there. Today she was going to find out who her mother was. And her father. And maybe a sister? Or brother?
"Come on, Agent Poots, let's go," May said, gently leading Skye out of the elevator and into the masses of people. Skye's short legs had to move quickly to keep up with May, despite the little woman being about the same size as her.
"'Agent Poots'?" Skye asked, panting as she caught up. "Really?"
Melinda smirked, but made sure Skye didn't see her. "This is our stop." She pulled Skye out of the stream of agents. They both looked up at the large doorway and the sign that read, "RECORDS".
May led Skye down the hallway. She nodded at an agent that walked past. Skye nearly jumped when they rounded a corner and ran into a smiling Phil Coulson.
"Melinda!" he said happily, pulling her into an embrace. May closed her eyes and smiled as she rested her chin on his shoulder, and Skye could tell she genuinely loved the man.
"Thank you so much for helping us, Phil," May said to him, putting her arm around Skye.
The girl smiled nervously, sliding her sunglasses to the top of her head. "Nice to meet you, sir."
"You must be Skye," he said, bending down some to make eye contact. Skye felt a bit degraded when he did that; after all, she was nearly an adult, but she shrugged it off because he'd called her by her preferred name.
"I am. Thank you for- "
"We'd better get moving," May said anxiously, turning around as a group of agents made their way down the hallway. Skye quickly slid the sunglasses back on and Phil led them both to a room full of files beginning with the letter A. He had to scan his lanyard just to open the door.
"Since we don't know your birth name, I suppose we'll start here and just make our way down the alphabet. I do wish we could access the computer databases, but I'm trying to be as legal as possible here."
Melinda laughed. "We brought a sixteen-year-old civilian into a top-secret undisclosed SHIELD base. Not one bit of this is legal."
Skye sighed, staring at the dozens of shelves of manilla folders. "It's going to be a long day."
Hours later, Skye was exhausted and sweating as she leaned against a massive pile of folders. Apparently, SHIELD didn't know how to use air conditioning. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and unbuttoned the top button of her blouse. They were in the Z files room, and had found nothing at all about a young girl with mysterious unknown origins. They'd gotten close in the H room. They found something on a lost teenage girl, but it had a photo of the girl, and she was pale as a ghost and had red hair.
Skye was burnt-out, and so was May. Phil was still trying, but was beginning to lose hope, too.
Coulson sighed, stepping toward Skye. "I'm so sorry, kiddo. I think your case is just too covert. It's probably in the top-secret files that May and I can't access."
Skye shook her head. "Come on, there has to be another way! I haven't gone this far just to learn about some random old guys who run sketchy deals. I came here to learn about my family!"
Phil shook his head, closing his eyes. "Skye, I don't know what to tell you. Sometimes SHIELD just has very secretive cases because they're too dangerous if too many people know about them."
"Me?" Skye cried, her voice breaking as a tear fell. She stood up angrily. "I'm just a kid! How can I possibly be hurting anyone, just by existing?!"
"Skye- " May began.
"No, you don't get to 'Skye' me." She shook her head angrily. "I should never have trusted you and your stupid government agency, you and your protocols that only benefit the top of the food chain. None of you pigs care about people like me! I'm just another number, another annoying subject you have to keep an eye on so I don't blow up the world or something. Well…" She shook her finger, stepping backwards toward the door. "I won't tolerate your corporate nonsense anymore. I'm out. Thanks for nothing."
"Skye!"
"Come on now, we're trying to help you!"
She turned around, yanking the door open and running down the hallway, not caring that agents shouted at her along the way. She threw her sunglasses and kicked off her heels on the floor as she continued running, out of Records and into the open floor. She didn't care as she bumped into countless agents. She heard some alarms go off and shouts and knew people were chasing her. She flung open the nearest door labeled "EXIT" and raced up the stairs. They led to one floor above, and she rushed out of those doors down another smaller corridor. She slipped and fell on a puddle of water the janitor was cleaning up, and turned around frantically to see a mass of a dozen armed agents dressed in tactical gear. They were ganging up on her, so she quickly stood and took the mop out of the janitor's hands as her bare, wet feet carried her down the corridor and into an elevator. She rapidly slammed the "close" button and the heavy doors shut just in the nick of time.
The elevator miraculously carried her to the above-ground floor, the parking garage. She wedged the janitor's mop into the elevator doorway after she stepped out to slow the agents down. There didn't seem to be any stairs nearby. She heaved a sigh of relief as she dove into May's car, lifting the backseat floor mat and grabbing the spare car key that Melinda had told her about, just in case. She turned the key in the ignition, anxious because she hadn't gotten her driver's license yet and barely had a clue how to operate the vehicle. Taking a deep breath, she pulled out of the parking spot and somehow made her way outside of the parking garage. She broke the car gate on her way out, no longer caring.
Skye felt bad for abandoning May for a split second, but remembered that Phil could take her home. Besides, how did she know May's real motives behind getting so close to her? At the end of the day, she was just another government pig, too, who cared more about protocols than a human being's life.
Skye drove herself to a bus station, knowing well and good she might die if she tried to drive herself to Los Angeles. She paid for the tickets with cash so the agents couldn't track her, and parked her car a few blocks away from the station at a grocery store. That way, the agents would find May's car and interrogate the grocery store, buying Skye some time.
Skye needed to get back to Los Angeles. Maybe that free computer didn't sound so bad after all.
I honestly have no idea if The Hub was a wise choice for the SHIELD base, but I figured the main headquarters in New York were not within driving distance from May's Oregon lakehouse. Please comment; it's much appreciated :)