A/N: Ya'll I could have sworn I updated this story in December, but apparently not. At least now I'm ahead on writing this story. Anyway, Happy New Year everyone! We have a special guest this chapter, she has decided to grace us with her presence.
Summary: Agents Melinda May and Phil Coulson are put on a new assignment to look after an object of unknown origin, an 0-8-4. The only catch is this 0-8-4 is a person. A fourteen year old girl who's spent her life in the foster system is now in more danger than ever. A man beast is hunting her and SHIELD has to make sure that it doesn't get close to her. AU, MCU characters will be used.
Chapter Twelve
September 16 Friday 2011
Days passed and Skye found herself falling into a routine. Not particularly mundane, but it was far from exciting though she couldn't complain about it really. Phil and Melinda were nice to her, they didn't yell at her or touch her or fight about anything that she knew of. The only real incident was when she shouted at Phil for touching her stuff.
She had acted out of line, her bag was on the floor in the hall and he was moving it to her room. He wasn't going through her stuff like she originally thought, which made her feel kind of guilty for the yelling. Phil was calm with her though, explained himself and apologized for touching her stuff without permission. However, he also didn't let her get away with raising her voice at him.
No punishment this time, but if she yelled at him or Melinda, there would be a consequence. Skye didn't want to know what sort of consequence he was referring to. Though neither Melinda or Phil appeared violent, it was only a matter of time before they turned sour.
At school she was doing well without hacking her grades or cheating, she was actually trying and had become top of her program because of the effort and interest. Not to mention she had friends she actually liked and who seemed to like her. She had spent the better part of the day last week with Simmons, Lincoln, Trip, Ward and Fitz. It was honestly the most fun Skye had, had in a long time.
She grinned at the memories, how she was able to act like a regular teenager for awhile. Where she was no longer the orphan Mary Sue, the lost or broken girl without a home. For a few hours she was just Skye, a carefree and goofy teenager. A girl who had friends, ate too much junk food and all sorts of activities that brought a smile to her face.
Currently Skye was reminiscing the events while barely paying attention to the tv. Phil was sitting on the opposite side of the couch engrossed in the tv show that was playing while Melinda was sitting at the breakfast nook doing some paperwork. It was peaceful and nice, then the doorbell rang scaring the shit out of Skye.
Phil lifted his head at that, "Either of you expecting someone?"
Skye shook her head as Melinda said, "No."
Melinda stood up from her seat, "I'll get it."
Skye settled back into the couch, but Phil was concerned. He knew Hill would come to check on them once in awhile, but she told them she would notify them before coming. Whoever was at the door could be someone as harmless as a Girl Scout, but considering the delicacy of the mission, Phil was slightly on edge. The two agents had spoken before about what they would do if attacked and the plan to get Skye out.
Phil was preparing himself for the worst, but was confident no one at the door was coming to harm him. He watched Melinda disappear from sight, he wouldn't be able to hear her unless she purposefully talked louder so he would have to wait. If it wasn't a friendly, he would be ready to help in the fight that could follow.
May had an ICER in her pants, hidden by her shirt, but she had a hand on it as she peaked through the peephole. The person standing there was not someone she expected to see. May opened the door, surprise still on her face.
"Natasha," May said keeping the door mostly closed so neither Coulson nor Skye would hear her, "What are you doing here?"
Natasha Romanoff, a former Russian spy called Black Widow and currently one of the top agents at SHIELD. She was young woman in her mid twenties with red hair, fair skin complexion and stunning green eyes. For months May could recall being an SO of sorts to the Russian spy, but that had been so long ago. The last time May had seen Natasha was right after Bahrain. Why she was here was beyond Melinda May, it wasn't an unwelcome surprise, but some warning would have been nice.
Natasha replied in an almost monotone voice, "Well when I couldn't contact Coulson or find you in your hideout, I figured something might have happened. Neither of you could be reached, plus it didn't say anywhere you had a mission. My search was cut short by Hill who gave me a brief rundown."
May raised an eyebrow, "Why did you need to contact us?"
"Mainly for another assignment, consulting and such, but after Hill's rundown, I had to come see for myself," Natasha said with a slight grin, "A human 0-8-4 is crazy. Have you seen anything interesting so far?"
May shook her head, "So far she's completely normal, nothing strange has happened."
"Huh. Also are we just going to stand here, or will we go inside," Natasha asked as she ran fingers through her dark red hair. Usually her hair was lighter in color and shorter, but May supposed it was a nice change.
"Did Hill tell you about your part," May asked softly.
Natasha raised an eyebrow, "My part? In what, this mission? I didn't realize I had one."
May sighed with a slightly annoyed expression, "Damn. Alright, we'll go in, but you have to pretend that Coulson and I were your adopted parents."
It was Natasha's turn to look surprised. Out of all the undercover parts she played, an adopted child had never been one of them. Oddly enough this part felt like it would be the hardest she would ever have to play. Yet part of her was kind of interested in it.
Incredulously she asked, "Okay. Any reason?"
"Coulson told Skye that we had three other children, you were one of them, along with Clint and Maria," May explained fairly quickly.
Natasha tilted her head to the side, "Why would he tell her that?"
"Skye asked and he just blurted it out," May answered slightly amused, "I'll send you your backstory later, but the gist is you were trafficked from Russia and rescued here in America. Placed in the foster system and we took you in when you were around fourteen. Might want to let your accent show a bit more. According to the story, you didn't start becoming fluent in English until you were sixteen/ seventeen."
"Got it," Natasha said with a nod, "Do I call you Mom and Dad or no?"
The idea made Natasha uncomfortable since she never had a mom or Dad to call hers, so it would be strange saying the words as titles. Even though May and Coulson fit the roles well enough, or as close as they could give the circumstances, she supposed it wasn't that hard to imagine. Though if anything, Fury was more like a father figure considering how often she saw him and spoke with him. Clint and Maria made sense since they trained together a lot. Natasha swallowed, she refocused on May.
May shook her head, "You don't have to. Just remember the overview I told you and don't say anything about SHIELD. Skye doesn't know anything about SHIELD or her status as 0-8-4."
Natasha nodded again, "Okay."
May stepped aside to allow Natasha in as she called, "Phil, Skye we have company."
May lead Natasha to the living room where Coulson and Skye were seated. Needless to say that when Coulson saw Natasha he was beyond surprised.
"Natasha," Coulson said standing from his seat, "We weren't expecting to see you here. It's good to see you."
Natasha grinned at him, "You too old man."
Phil rolled his eyes, his grin shining, "I don't know who you're calling old, I'm hip."
"A broken hip maybe," Natasha smirked.
Skye struggled to hide her laugh. The attention shifted to her then. Natasha studied the teen while Skye studied her as well. The ex assassin didn't think the girl looked dangerous, but then again most looks were deceiving. If anything, Skye looked smaller than she thought a fourteen year old should appear. Though Natasha couldn't judge her for that considering when she was in the program, she was one of the smallest ones, and she turned out to be the best. The brown eyes gave Natasha pause, they looked slightly familiar and filled with pain.
"Skye this is Natasha," May introduced, "Natasha, meet Skye."
"It's nice to meet you Skye," Natasha said with a grin, she let her Russian accent show slightly, "I've heard a lot about you."
Skye nodded, a cautious expression on her face, "Likewise. Phil and Melinda have told me about you."
"Good things I hope," Natasha said eyeing her 'parents.'
Phil shrugged, "Mostly good things. What brings you by?"
Natasha explained easily, "I was in the neighborhood and thought I would swing by. Not to mention I had been waiting to come over to meet Skye. But you guys insisted on letting her get settled in first, so I waited a little more than two weeks."
Melinda nodded along, "You did. I'm impressed since you never were patient."
"Still isn't," Phil commented with a grin.
Natasha rolled her eyes, but she wore a good natured smile. Falling into the role of foster/adopted daughter was easy enough for Natasha to do. It was just a bit of method acting. Though in all honesty she just acted like her usual self with them, a little carefree and sarcastic. The only difference would be her having to throw in the words Mom or Dad. Well Ma and Da.
"So, how long will you be in town," Melinda asked as Natasha sat down on the chair closer to the tv.
The red head shrugged, "Not long, probably two or three days at most. Maria wanted to join me, but she got caught up in work. Same with Clint, but rest assured they'll be by soon enough."
Natasha glanced at Skye then to see her growing discomfort, May noticed it to. Skye knew that staying with foster parents who already had kids never ended well. At least not for her. The real children always bothered her and blamed everything on her. Most of it was never her fault, but no one believed her. However the Mayson's children were already out of the house, so it didn't really matter. Though having the surprise visit would be awkward as far as Skye was concerned.
"So Skye tell me about yourself," Natasha said leaning forward in her sitting position.
Skye blinked, "Not much to tell." Natasha shrugged, "Share what you wish. We can do those ice breaker games they place at summer camps or we volunteer information. For example, I was a ballet dancer. Did it for most of my life."
"Um, well i'm a skateboarder," Skye said which was true.
Natasha grinned, "Does May- ma let you skate?"
The slip up was barely noticed by Skye who chalked it up to hesitance to call the woman by the title around her. It was the way Simmons was hesitant to talk about her parents or how Fitz didn't want to talk about his mom around her. Because she didn't have one, and no one wanted to make her uncomfortable with it. Phil and Melinda knew the slip up was because she was so used to calling May, May, and calling her mom was strange. Ma seemed like a middle ground and simple cover up.
"I haven't been able to, I don't have a board anymore since it broke," Skye explained a bit sadly.
"Too bad it broke," Natasha said, she glanced at Phil, "If he won't get you a new one I will. What else do you do? I hear you like computers."
Skye nodded, "You don't need to do that. And I do. Coding specifically."
"Interesting, you'd get along with my… friend Anthony," Natasha commented flashing May and Coulson a knowing look.
Coulson had nodded in a agreement, "That's true. He would probably love to have someone else to talk to about computers with."
"Perhaps one day I'll bring him over, in the meantime I'm starving," Natasha leaning back in her chair.
Phil suggested, "Why don't we all go out? We could try out that new Italian restaurant."
"I like Italian," Skye said grinning.
Natasha grinned, "I'm up for it."
Melinda sighed, she was not an eat out person, "Alright, guess that settles it,"
Dinner had gone on without a hitch, Natasha and Skye got along swimmingly which was nice for Phil and Melinda to see. It wasn't until the three of them were alone around midnight that they understood how much Natasha actually liked Skye. The subject of the conversation had fallen asleep two hours before and went upstairs to sleep.
"I like her, anyone gives her trouble then they better expect trouble," Natasha said taking a sip of alcohol, "Though I am tempted to pay her previous foster parents."
May could understand that, "I agree, but that's not something we can do."
Natasha glanced at her, "Yeah because they're dead. The past five or six of them are. Except for two, Hyde and Marcus I think was her most recent home. Though he's in jail. Are you guys helping in that search at all?"
Coulson shook his head, "Nope. We're only watching her."
Natasha nodded a bit absently, "I'll offer what help I can on the search. From what I can tell, Skye seems human. Why do they think she's on 0-8-4? Something in her blood?"
"We don't know," May answered honestly, "She was found as infant in China, after a massacre. An entire village died protecting her from this man beast, who only recently had it turned up on her radar again after all these years. If anyone did see what she was capable of, they're dead by now."
Natasha hummed over this information, that sounded even more familiar to her, but she couldn't place it. She searched her memory wondering why when it hit her.
"The Hunan province," said Natasha with a knowing look, "I remember now. I recognize the story and her eyes."
"Her eyes," May questioned confused.
Natasha nodded, "Clint and I had just returned from a mission when we crossed paths with some agents who had just come from the Hunan province, they looked awful and covered in blood. Agent Avery held a child, an infant who couldn't have been more than a year or two with these odd eyes."
"Her eyes are just brown," Coulson commented.
Natasha shook her head, "If you look closer, you'll see what I mean. Not just the pain in them, but something else. Any idea about her parents?"
Coulson answered, "Nothing concrete. One of the agents with Avery claimed that her mother was native to the village, but had no proof of it."
"I'll do some digging on them," Natasha said with a nod, "Whatever happened to them and if there's any connection from them to her 0-8-4 status."
May leaned back in her chair and sighed, "Any information about her at this point would be useful. The only thing we do know for certain is nothing."
Natasha said nothing to that. She glanced at the stairs, her thoughts on the orphan who was asleep upstairs. Of all the crazy things to happen to an infant now teenage girl, this was not something Natasha had expected. There was something about Skye that Natasha was drawn too. The girl was closed off sure, but she was also warm to those she interacted with. It was a balance the teen possessed, Natasha could respect that ability.
"Well she's in good hands," commented Natasha as she looked back at her 'parents'.
Coulson offered her a grin, "She's in a lot of good hands. How have you been doing?"
Natasha smirked, "The same old way. Can't say there's anything new to report. Whereas I leave you two alone for a few months and now you're married with a child."
Coulson and May laughed lightly at that. Now Coulson laughing was expected, but Natasha had to admit she was surprised to hear the light chuckle come from May. Natasha had to force herself not to look at May in confusion at seeing her shoulders relax, her smile genuine and eyes with a bit of a shimmer to them.
Bahrain had left her mentor so scarred and damaged that getting any reaction was blessing, this was a miracle. It was nice and odd at once. The assassin wouldn't complain though, seeing any remainder of her old mentor was a good thing. When Coulson had a second alone with Natasha, he had told her that Skye had brought out this new side of May. She was still herself, but a small change had occurred in the woman. A welcomed one nonetheless.
Natasha set her drink down and stood up, "I'll be back. Off to do a patrol."
The atmosphere turned serious.
Coulson nodded, "Good idea. The hunt for the manbeast has been less than successful and we don't need any surprises here."
"Any idea how he found her before," Natasha questioned curiously.
May replied, "No idea. It's assumed he hacked his way in to find the homes, but he's never arrived to a house when she was there except the last one."
"He was there," Natasha asked in surprise.
"He was reported there," Coulson said doubtfully, "However with all the police cars and fire trucks, he was driven away. The most likely reason he didn't get Skye from the hospital was to avoid the people and cameras."
"Whoever or whatever is after her, does not want to be seen," May commented.
"Which makes sense so there isn't a way to find him, but the trail of bodies isn't helping," Coulson pointed out.
Natasha raised an eyebrow, "Any ideas for why the manbeast is killing all these people?"
Coulson shook his head, "Only theories, none of them concrete."
Natasha nodded in understanding. She said nothing else as she exited the room, the sound of the door opening and closing filled their ears. The surprise visit from the agent was a pleasant one, it would also help May and Coulson be on the look for the next few days while she remained here.