Chapter 11
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AN: Thank you to all who have added to alerts, read, reviewed or any combination of the three. It means a lot to me.
AN2: There were several mistakes in the last chapter and a part missing I have added the part that was missing and fixed a mistake but I think I missed some. Sorry about that. I paid extra attention to my read through of this chapter so I hope it's better. ENJOY YOU AWESOME PEOPLE.
"Can we talk?" Skye asks her voice sounding just as scared as when she asked whether Coulson was going to be okay over a month ago.
"Of course, come in, sit down." Simmons tells her friend.
"Not here, please." Skye requests.
"Where then?" Simmons ask confused.
"Just follow me." Skye request and Simmons does just that.
As they walk neither Skye nor Simmons says anything but Simmons spends the time observing Skye. She notices that while Skye is shaking there doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong but she is holding her laptop close to her. For a minute Simmons thinks that maybe Skye has started to have nightmares again but she realised that for Skye to be shaking this much for her to be this scared she would have heard her having the nightmare, because bad nightmares for Skye aren't usually quite, though they can be.
Skye leads Simmons down to the cargo bay where she gets in the backseat of the Car.
"Skye, what's wrong? Why did you want to talk down here?" Simmons asks as she does the same, concern very clear in his voice.
"I feel safe in here, and I really need to feel safe at the moment." Skye explains.
"Skye, what happened?" Jemma asks her concern for her friend, her little sister in all but blood, growing every second.
"There is a lot about my past that you guys don't know, a lot, most of which I'll probably never tell Coulson and May. I was a screwed up kid for a long time, a really long time, but worse than that I was a screwed up kid who was smart. Living in my van hacking for Rising Tide that was the most stable I had been in a while." Skye explains.
"Skye what is it?" Jemma asks watching as Skye hugs he laptop closer almost like she doesn't want to let it go.
"Rising Tide found me when I was at my most screwed up when what I needed the most was someone to take me in, to look after me. I know now that that's not what they did, but it's what it felt like at the time." Skye explains "They used me for my skill and I let them because I thought that I found people like me and maybe we could be screwed up together and nothing else would matter, that's about when I met Miles by the way. Joining S.H.I.E.L.D goes against everything Rising Tide is and everything that it holds dear, and me doing that in their eyes in the ultimate betrayal." Skye explains.
"What do you mean?" Jemma asks confused.
"Read for yourself." Skye says opening her laptop making sure that the right tab is open and handing it over to Simmons.
"How long ago did you get this?" Simmons asks as she reads.
"About half an hour." Skye answers "I'm sorry that I woke you I just…" Skye begins to say but Skye cuts her off.
"It's okay, I don't mind." Simmons assures her friend "Do you know who sent it?"
"No."
"But it signed, 'you know who I am'?" Simmons asks confused.
"There are…five people that that I can think of who know enough to send that email, and all five of them would be more than willing to do what they threatened." Skye explains taking the laptop back and placing in in the back of the chair in front of her.
"Who's Anna?" Simmons asks confused.
"A friend, the one person besides you guys who ever really looked out for me." Skye explains.
"You have to tell your parents, let's go to Coulson right now. He'll know what to do." Simmons tells Skye, after reading that email she knows that they are out of their depth.
"I can't tell my Dad about this." Skye says referring to Coulson as her Dad out loud for the first time, but because she is so scared she didn't realise that she did, though Simmons defiantly did "He would have freaked out about me getting an email like this before he knew I was his daughter. He'll be a hundred times worse now." Skye tells her.
"Okay, then what did you want to do?" Simmons asks knowing that she is right about Coulson's reaction but still thinking that it is the best idea.
"I could run, we'll be landing in the morning. I could disappear. It wouldn't be the first time." Skye comments.
"Skye…" Jemma begins to say her voice a cross between disapproval and concern.
"I know, running's not the answer and I really don't want to leave, and I can't just let Anna die, but I don't know what else to do." Skye admits. "I can't just do what they want me to."
"If you don't want to go to Coulson because you're worried about his reaction then fine, we won't." Simmons says reaching out and grabbing Skye's hand because she can see that she is getting upset "But we should go to May. We need help Skye. You and I can't handle something like this alone."
"You're going to help?" Skye asks surprised, she told Simmons what was going on not because she was expecting her help but because she needed to talk to someone.
"Of course I am." Simmons tells her "What did we say when Coulson was on bed rest?"
"That we're sisters." Skye says quietly, remembering what they said when they were hiding in the lab from Fitz and Ward.
"Exactly that means no matter what you decide, no matter what happens I am with you." She promises "What do you say? Are you alright with us going to May?" Simmons asks.
"Won't she just tell Coulson anyway?" Skye asks "I mean is that what parents do? Tell each other these kind of things about their kids? Because I know they do it on TV but do they do it in real life as well?" Skye asks confused.
"She'll most likely tell him." Simmons confirms, "But even if she does it won't be the worst thing, we need them Skye and more importantly they would want to know, and if it's coming from May then she may just be able to get Coulson to calm down." Simmons explains and after a couple of minutes of debating Skye nods.
"Okay." Simmons says giving her own little nod "I think she put the plane on automatic so she'll be in her bunk. Let's go." She says.
"Can you go get her?" Skye asks in a quiet voice "Bring her down here?"
"If you promise to still be here when I do." Simmons tells her.
"Where in the air, there isn't too many places I can go." Skye reminds her.
"Please Skye, no jokes." Simmons tells her "I'm going to go get your Mother, just be here when we get back." She requests.
"I will." Skye assures.
"Good. I'll be back as soon as I can." Simmons tells her and exits the car.
Once Simmons leaves Skye does her best to make herself take up the least amount of space possible. She pulls her legs into her chest and puts her arms around them hugging them close. Still shaking like she has ever since she got the email.
As Simmons walks to May's bunk she knows there is about a million things that she would rather be doing that waking up Melinda May but after reading that email and hearing Skye talk she knows that it's what needs to be done to protect Skye, and that's what she cares about.
"Agent May?" Simmons ask knocking on May's door and sliding it open.
"What is it Simmons?" May asks not even opening her eyes and clearly annoyed about being woken up.
"It's Skye." Simmons says simply very aware that her voice is displaying all the concern that she is feeling.
"What happened?" May asks quickly sitting up now looking wide away "Is she alright?"
"Um, it would be best if you just came with me." Simmons tells her not really sure how to answer the 'is she alright?' question.
"Simmons is she alright?" May repeats.
"Physically she's fine, but I wouldn't call her alright." Simmons explains.
'Have you woken Coulson?" May asks as they walk past the Command Centre.
"No, she only agreed to talk to you. You'll understand why when you talk to her." Simmons says as they walked down the stairs.
"She's in there." Simmons says pointing to the back seat of the car.
"The back seat of the car?" May asks confused.
"She said it's the only place she feel's safe." Simmons explains "I'll wait out here." She says as May opens the door and climbs in the back seat.
As soon as May climbs in the backseat and see's Skye she becomes even more concerned than she already was.
Just like she has been since Simmons left a few minutes easy Skye is huddled of the corner of the car trying to make herself as small as possible.
"Skye, sweetheart, what's wrong?" May asks moving closer to her.
Skye doesn't say a word she just reaches over, grabs her laptop, unlocks it and shows May the same thing she showed Simmons.
"You're safe Skye. We'll keep you safe. I'm not going to let anything happen to you." May tells her daughter once she finishes reading.
"If I don't do exactly what he told me to do then he'll kill Anna. She was the first person to look out for me. I can't let that happen." Skye tells her mother.
"Who's he? Who sent this?" May asks.
"I'm not sure there are a few people who could have sent it." Skye explains, "And all of them will do what they said they would without hesitation." Skye tells her mother.
"We'll stop them before that, and we will save your friend." Melinda assures her daughter
"They know everything, all my weakness, everything I've done, and everything I am scared of." Skye tell her mother "They won't stop until I do exactly what they want me to do." Skye reveals.
"Then we'll stop them." May tells her daughter moving closer to her and putting her arms around her "We will find them and we will stop them. We'll keep you safe Skye." May tells her daughter.
"What if you can't?" Skye asks in a quiet voice.
"We will." May assures, holding Skye closer. "I've got you, it'll be okay, and you'll be okay." May tells her daughter as she holds her as she can feel that she is still shaking in fear.
"Do you want to come upstairs so that we can talk to your Dad?" May asks her daughter several minutes later.
"I kinda want to stay in here for a while longer." Skye admits "I feel safe." She explains.
"You're safe here Skye." May tells her daughter "We're in the air, no one can hurt you." May tells her daughter.
"I don't feel safe." Skye admits quietly "Can you go tell Coulson? I just want to stay in here for a while." She explains.
May debates for a little while what she should do, a very large part of her wants to stay with Skye and hold her until she feels safe but another part of her knows that the only way for Skye to actually be safe is if she goes and talks to Coulson and finds out who sent the email.
"Yeah, I can do that." May tells her daughter once she finally makes her decision "Simmons' is still outside, I'll get her to come sit with you." May tells Skye "Do you mind if I take this?" May asks referring to the laptop.
"No." Skye tells her.
"I'll be back once I talk to Coulson." May says removing her arms from around Skye and exiting the car.
As soon as she saw the door open Simmons walks over to May. "Stay with her." May tells her. "Don't let her out of your sight."
"Of course." Simmons responds.
"Thank you." May tells her before heading upstairs as Simmons climbs in the back of the car.
Once May gets to the third level of the plane she places the laptop down in Coulson's office then walks past Coulson's closet and into his bedroom which is directly across from his office.
"Phil wake up." Melinda says as she shakes Coulson awake after turning on the light.
"Huh, Melinda? What's wrong?" He asks confused, wondering why his ex-wife is waking him up.
"Get up, there's something you need to see." May says before leaving the room walking back over to his office.
"Melinda, what is going on?" Coulson asks confused "Why are you waking me at three thirty in the morning?" he asks then notices Skye's laptop sitting open on his desk "What's Skye's laptop doing here?"
"Read what she got an hour ago." May tells him simply.
Confused Coulson looks down and reads the open page as he does Melinda can see him getting furious "Where is she?" He asks worried.
"Down in the backseat of the car, she won't leave there. Simmons is with her." May explains.
"It reminds her of her van." Coulson mutters to himself.
"What?" May asks.
"She likes it down there because it reminds her of her van." Coulson explains "How is she?" He asks worried.
"Not good, really not good." May explains.
"How'd you know?" Coulson asks interested.
"Simmons came and got me." May explains, "I'm guessing that Skye showed Simmons and then Simmons came and got me."
"Does she say who's behind this?" Coulson asks assuming that because the email is signed with 'You know who I am' that she does.
"She said there are a few people who could have sent it and that all of the possibilities will follow through on the threats without hesitation." May explains.
"No, I will not let that happen." Coulson says angrily "No one will touch her, I won't let them." He says.
"Look Simmons said something when she came and got me, she said that Skye only agreed to talk to me first, I think it's because she was afraid of how you'll react. So when we go down there you can't show her how angry you are Phil. You've got to control your anger." May explains.
"She's afraid of me?" Coulson asks his voice barely above a whisper.
"No, of course not." May assures him, "That's not what I said. She's afraid to see you angry, but she's not afraid of you." May explains to him.
"What do you know that I don't?" Coulson asks having a feeling like he is missing something.
"Something she'll tell you when she's ready." May tells him.
"Melinda, what is it?" Coulson asks worried.
"Not my place to say." Melinda explains to him. "She told me what she did in confidence, I can't break that." She explains.
"Melinda…" Coulson begins to say but she cuts him off. "Phil, don't. Come on, our daughter needs us." Melinda says before leaving his office.
As Coulson follows Melinda he can't help but worry and wonder what he is missing.
When they get down to the cargo area May knocks on the window to let Simmon's know that they are back.
"How is she?" Melinda asks Simmons in a quite whisper.
"The same." Simmons whispers back.
"The laptop is up in my office, go get it and wake Fitz and Ward. Let them know what is going on. Work on tracing who sent the email." Coulson tells her and he climbs in the car. May allowing him to go in first so that he is sitting next to Skye.
"Yes Sir." Simmons says before heading upstairs.
Once she gets upstairs Simmons gets the laptop first. Once she does she connects it to the monitor in the command centre so that the email is on the screen. She first heads to Fitz's bunk first because she knows that he is rather difficult to wake up.
"Fitz wake up." Jemma says shaking him, "Fitz come on." Jemma says continuing to shake him trying to get him to wake up.
"Jemma? What's going on?" Fitz asks confused.
"Get up, I'll see you in the command centre in a couple of minutes, it's really important." Jemma tells her best friend before leaving his bunk and walking over to Wards.
"Agent Ward." Simmons asks using the same method he used to wake up May earlier and just like May he wakes up relatively easily.
"Simmons, what's going on?" He ask.
"You're needed in the Command Centre now. Agent's Coulson's orders." Simmons says leaving the command centre "FITZ COME ON." Simmons says loudly when she walks past his bunk.
"Why does Coulson want us in the command centre at three thirty in the morning?" Ward asks walking into the Command centre, Fitz right behind him. "What's this?" He asks referring to the email that is on the screen.
"This is why Coulson wanted you in the Command Centre at three thirty in the morning. It's an email Skye got an hour ago." She explains.
"Where is she?" Ward asks worried the second he finishes reading the email.
"Downstairs with May and Coulson, she won't leave the backseat of the car." Simmons explains.
"Who sent it? Has she told us their name?" Ward ask curious.
"No. She isn't completely sure who sent it. She said that there are five people who could have sent it. All of whom would deliver on the threats." Simmons explains.
"Can you trace it?" Ward asks Fitz.
"I can try, but they're Rising Tide. If they are anywhere near as good as Skye or Miles then I have no chance." Fitz explains.
"Just do it." Ward tells him "We need to find out who is behind this and cross them off." He says staring at the screen.
As he gets in the backseat of the car Coulson slides over so that he is sitting right next to Skye.
"Hi." Coulson says to her.
"Hey, AC." Skye responds.
"Simmons is waking Ward and Fitz. We'll find who sent the email." Coulson tells his daughter. "We'll keep you safe." He tells her.
"I should have realised that this was coming." Skye says quietly "I should have known that they would have figured out what I was doing eventually."
"No one knew you were going to join S.H.I.E.L.D to find out more about us?" Coulson asks curious.
"No one except Miles." Skye explains.
"And what about this Anna? How does she fit in?" Coulson asks.
"She's a friend." Skye says, "Before I meet all of you she was the only person who truly looked out for me. I haven't spoken to her in almost two years because, well, because of Miles, she didn't like him, she thought he was no good, a bad influence and I didn't listen." Skye admits "She was just trying to look out for me and now she might die." Skye says tears coming to her eyes as she thinks what might happen to her friend because of her.
"We'll get her back Skye." Coulson says putting his arm around her and pulling her into his side.
"Fitz won't be able to trace the email without me. I know all of the people who could have sent it and they are all really good, but I just... I just want to stay here a little while longer." Skye tells her parents. As while she knows that soon enough she is going to have to get out of the back seat and the safety it provides she's not quite ready to at the moment.
"Of course." Coulson says.
"We're right here with you." May tells her daughter.
While Skye, May and Coulson are downstairs FitzSimmons and Ward are working on trying to trace the email.
"You were with her, how is she?" Ward asks Simmons interested and worried for his friend.
"Do you remember how scared she was when Coulson was hurt?" Simmons asks.
"Of course." Ward responds.
"We'll she's worse now. She's petrified." Simmons explains looking scared for her friend.
"We'll keep her safe." Ward tells her.
"How?" Simmons asks "If she doesn't do what they want her then they will kill her friend and come after her and release everything she doesn't want known, and if she does do what they want, turn herself into them with information about S.H.I.E.L.D they will administer the sentence for her crimes, whatever that means. How do we keep her safe from that?" Simmons asks Ward as while she meant what she said to Skye that they will protect her she has no idea how exactly they will.
"We'll find another way." Ward tells her "We'll protect Skye and save her friend. May and Coulson aren't just going to let her get hurt, and neither am I." He tells her and Simmons gives a small nod "Fitz it's been an hour. Why haven't you traced it by now?"
"Because they're good. They are using encryption that I haven't even seen before to hide their location. I can't break it." He says looking up at Ward and Simmons "Skye is the only one on this bus who has a chance of being able to tell us who sent this email and from where." Fitz explains. "We need Skye." He says looking up from the computer.
"Well talk about prefect timing, I'm here." Skye says walking into the command centre, Coulson and May right behind her.
"Are you sure…" Ward beings to say but Skye cuts her off.
"If we're going to save Anna then were going to need to know which of my former friends is behind this." Skye explains "And like Fitz just said I'm the only one who can." Skye says as she starts typing, he parents walking over and standing either side of her as she does.
"That son of a bitch." Skye says angrily several minutes later.
"What is it?" Coulson asks "Who sent it?"
"I don't know… yet." Skye says "But whoever sent whoever sent it used my own encryption to hide their location." She explains.
"That's why I couldn't get into it." Fitz says now understanding why he couldn't break the encryption, Skye is just too good.
"There's something odd about this." Skye mutters to herself but she is loud enough so that everyone else can hear.
"What do you mean?" May asks curious.
"I created this encryption a really long time ago, like years, I was still a teenager when I did." She explains.
"I couldn't break an encryption you created when you were a teenager?" Fitz asks surprised.
"Sorry Fitz, but I'm that good." Skye tells him "My point is whoever sent this email wanted to be sure that no one else could find their location but that I would know exactly who they are."
"What do you mean?" Coulson asks, not understanding a lot of what his daughter is saying.
"When I wrote this encryption I was experimenting with things, seeing just what I could do. Embedded into the end of the encryption is a code to highjack the webcam at the time of the email being sent and take a picture of who was sending it. That file is embedded into the encryption." Skye explains.
"Are you saying that you can show us a picture of who sent the email?" Coulson asks wanting to make sure that he is understanding right.
"In about twenty seconds I can." Skye says beginning to type faster "Done, that's who sent me the email." Skye says less than twenty seconds later, her face losing all its colour and fear taking its place the second the image of the person who sent the email appears on the screen.
"Skye what is it? Who is he?" Melinda asks looking up at the photo of the person who sent Skye the email and seeing her daughter's reaction she knows that it's not going to be good.
"His name is Samuel Lard." Skye explains, not looking away from the picture.
"FitzSimmons." Coulson says.
"On it." They reply both starting to try and find everything they can on the man.
"Skye what is it?" May asks putting a hand on her daughters shoulder, wondering and worried about who the man is because Skye looks more terrified than she has all morning just looking at the picture.
"Do you remember the picture you found?" Skye asks her mother.
"Yes." May answers knowing she will never forget that photo "What about it?" Melinda asks confused while Coulson just watches his ex-wife and daughter having no idea what they are taking about, but wondering if it has something to do with what Melinda wouldn't tell him earlier.
"He's the one who caused it." Skye explains "I had no idea that he was a part of Rising Tide." She says.
"If you didn't know he was a part of Rising Tide then who is he?" Ward asks "How do you know him?"
"He's someone I knew, a really long time ago." She explains, "Excuse me." Skye says looking away from the picture for the first time and leaving the room.
"Skye." Coulson says and attempts to follow her but May stops him "Not a good idea, trust me." She tells him "Let me." She says letting go of Coulson's arm and following their daughter out of the room. Leaving a very confused Coulson with the team in the command centre.
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