A/N: There are a couple of reasons why this is so late, the main one being I wrote this specific chapter earlier in the story and cannot find the notebook it's. SO I figured once I found the notebook, I could type it up and post, but weeks and weeks then months went by and I still can't find the chapter and when I would try to write based on what I remembered, I would get annoyed and stop. Unfortunately I still haven't found the notebook, but I did my best to write out what I originally had. Hope you all stay safe in these uncertain times, as always thank you for the support!

Italics is a memory :)

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 Twenty One

Skye could only blink in response when May told her who had been brought in, the air seemed to get thicker and harder for her to take in at once. When she saw her parents rushing by with a boy on a gurney, she thought he looked familiar, but figured that she had made a mistake, the movement making it hard for her to tell. However when neither Phil or Melinda came to tell her who it was, she started to get worried. Lincoln and their new friend, Elena, had tried to reassure her that whoever it was would be taken care of. It wasn't enough. And now sitting at the end of her hosptal bed not looking at May who had told her the names of the people who were affected, she didn't have any words. Her foster brother, Robbie, had been affected by this craziness and then Gabe, he was hurt really badly.

"Skye," May said when the teen didn't respond.

Skye didn't look at her as she asked, "Are they going to live?"

May took a breath, "Robbie's stable and we're waiting to here about Gabe."

Skye's eyes shimmered when she looked at May, "I don't want to lose them."

"I know, we don't want that either," May said softly, "When Robbie wakes up, you can see him. For now, get some more work done if you can. Simmons has been restless worrying about your academics."

This almost made Skye smile, "Yeah, sounds right."

May stood there uncertainly for a moment, unsure if there was something else she could do or say to help Skye. This sort of thing was never May's strong suit, even before the incident that changed her. However she knew how Skye tended to operate when faced with something like this, when she heard serious news that left her feeling lost, she preferred to be alone for awhile. So May would give her that and inform her friends to give her a bit of space while she processed what happened and dealt with it on her own for now. Then when she was ready, they would all be right be her side.

Skye watched as May left her space to speak to the others. She put all her focus on her breathing when all the worst case scenarios entered mind. One good thing Skye learned about her new freaky powers was that they seemed to be connected to her heart rate, not completely, but a good bit. If her heart rate picked up speed whether she was happy or angry or any emotion, her powers would react and her heart would go up to three hundred beats per minute. Not too long ago she tried to get to four hundred beats which ended with some equipment being broken and May being annoyed with her while Coulson was amused.

Skye laid down her bed, she kept her breathing even as she thought of Robbie in this building, wondering if he was badly hurt, how he was handling this mess. None of the scientists here had a name for their… condition, but she wondered that Robbie must have the same thing. Lincoln was electricity, Skye had vibrations and Elena was speedy, though her power was definitely more connected to her heart than Skye's. Skye shut her eyes, hoping that whatever higher power was out there would make sure Robbie and Gabe would make it through this. Worry started to build in her chest and she could feel the world beginning to shake slightly around, so she took a breath and thought back to the last time she saw. It was a happy memory, a great one that she hoped would settle her nerves.

Family outings were something Skye had only ever dreamed of as a little girl and as she grew older, she more or less abandoned the idea. At dinner the previous night she made the mistake of telling Phil about her abandonment of outings and spending time together with family for the heck of it to which her foster father pouted and said that would change. It was the beginning of February so the next holiday would have been Valentine's day which Phil had big plans for when it came to his girls.

However the plan he currently had in mind and had thought up at the dinner table was just for fun. Phil decided that the three of them would go spend the day together. He woke her up this morning and said he already called the school, telling them that she wouldn't be there, he took off work and managed to convince Melinda, a raging workaholic, to take the day off for some family time.

Though Skye felt more comfortable with Melinda and Phil, even slipping up on calling them mom or dad, she still uneasy whenever the word 'family' popped up. Skye blamed the foster system for that, but she supposed it made sense. Never had a family, so of course the world would feel weird to use. Yet as Skye walked between Melinda and Phil on the sidewalk, she couldn't help, but to reconsider her stance on these family outings.

"I think ice cream is in order," Phil said after some silence had passed on their walk.

Melinda raised an eyebrow, "After all the junk food the two of you have had today and you want to frozen sugar to the list?"

Phil shrugged, "Ice cream makes everything better."

Skye grinned, "He's not wrong."

Melinda released a sigh, "Alright fine, but dinner needs to look healthier than the chocolate pancakes this morning and burgers."

"Done," Phil said with a smile. However when he looked at Skye, he gave her a quick wink to show that dinner would certainly be a fun treat as well.

"Mares!"

Skye stopped abruptly in walk at the old nickname she hadn't heard in months. Phil and Melinda noticed Skye had stopped moving, each wearing a concerned look on their face and question in their eyes. The young teen turned away from them, in the direction of the voice only as soon as she did meet the caller, she felt her heart stop. Standing at the end of the sidewalk dressed in black jeans and a leather jacket with white lines. There stood her older foster brother, Robbie Reyes, wearing a look disbelief though Skye imagined her face looked even more surprised than his own. After Skye had been moved from Hyde, she was moved all the way across the country to the east coast, she had no idea where Robbie and Gabe ended up, only that she hoped they were still together.

"Robs," Skye called out hesitantly, but when he nodded, her grin was brilliant, "Oh my God, Robbie!"

Not wasting anymore time, Skye raced away from her foster parents to meet Robbie, who was running towards her as well until they slammed into each other. The force of it being enough to leave them both slightly breathless, but neither particularly cared at the moment. Robbie spun Skye around, thrilled to have his little sister back in his arms. A laugh left Skye as he put her down, she was elated to see him here.

"What are you doing here, how are you here," Skye asked grinning madly.

Robbie chuckled, "Uh foster parents wanted to bring us to New York for a spell. What about you chica?"

"Foster parents live out here, plus St Agnes is on the east coast so how I ended up in California is still bizarre," Skye said with a light laugh, "Wait- where-"

"Mares," called a new voice.

Skye leaned around Robbie to be greeted by the sight of Robbie's kid brother, Gabe, running over to them. While she wasn't surprised to see Gabe, she was relieved to see he was still with his brother, but it was seeing him run that shocked her. Something had been wrong with Gabe's legs, he couldn't really walk without the help of crutches so to see him running without anything to help him along was a little more than a miracle. Gabe crashed into Skye's waiting arms, she hugged him as tight as she could without hurting him or stopping air from entering his lungs.

"Gabe, you're here and you can run," Skye said when she broke their hug.

Gabe stood proudly, "Yeah, I'm even on the futbol or soccer team. An attacker to."

Skye lifted her hand for a high five, which he gave, "That's incredible, I'm so happy for you and to see you both here. I-I never thought I would see you again."

Robbie nodded, "Yeah. I hadn't been sure it was you when I caught a glimpse of your face, but I hvae to say I'm really glad I called out."

"Me too," Skye said with a softer smile, "There's so much I have to tell you. For one thing, I finally got rid of the Mary Sue name so call me Skye."

"Much better," Gabe said with a nod of approval.

"I know right," Skye replied grinning.

Robbie opened his mouth to say something else, but pasued when his eyes glanced behind her. The action made Skye frown, but then she remembered who she was here with today. Phil and Melinda knew about Robbie, but she had never shown them a picture because she didn't have one. Glancing at them, she gave them her best smile ready to introduce them to each other. The way she planned to introduce them would be a big risk, but, she felt confident and certain.

"This is Robbie and Gabe, my old foster brothers," Skye said to them, she looked back at her brothers and said, "Guys, meet my mom and dad."

Both Robbie and Gabe's eyes lit up at the titles, knowing full well Skye wouldn't have used them if she didn't trust them or really care about them. Though Skye couldn't see exactly how Phil and Melinda reacted to the titles, she heard the smiles in their voices as they greeted Robbie and Gabe. That night they all went out to dinner, her foster parents and theirs at some nice restaurant where they got the chance to really catch up and have a fun time together. Skye had been devastated when it was time leave, but luckily it wouldn't be forever this time, she knew that for sure.

When the memory ended, Skye sat up in bed. There was no way she would be able to sit around and wait to see Robbie when he woke up or if he woke up, no she had to go and see him now before it really was too late. Weeks ago she had been certain that she would see him again, that he would come to live with her, Melinda and Phil like they had talked about, but now, who knew. Considering everything that had happened, there was no way to know what the future held.

However Skye would not wait for it to happen. She stood up and quickly put on some socks so she wouldn't have to run around barefoot. Skye and the two others with her could leave their little glass pads to move around the larger lab they were in, but they couldn't exit the main door. Currently, none of the scientists were in here which meant the computers over there were open and up for game. She would hack her way out of this room to see Robbie.

Granted she knew this was extreme and maybe she could call her foster parents or she guessed actual parents now to let her out early to see him, but the more impulsive and impatient part of her wouldn't have it. Not when he was so close and she was so scared that he wouldn't make it. So she left her little room and glanced at Lincoln sitting by Elena on the little couch brought in, courtesy of Trip.

"Skye, how are you doing," Lincoln asked rising to his feet.

Skye replied, "I'm doing fine. I just need to get to Robbie, the guy they brought in."

Lincoln frowned, "Wait, the Robbie you told us about?"

"Yeah," Skye said as she typed away on the keyboard, "He's here, in this building, hurt and likely has whatever condition we have. Mel-May, she said that Robbie was stable, but she could have said that just to keep me calm."

"I doubt she'd lie about his condition," Lincoln remarked coming to her side.

Skye made a face, "Hate to break it to you buddy, but one of these guys main concerns is making sure our freaky powers don't go haywire. If they tell us something that will stress us out, scare us or even tick us off, it puts this whole place and everyone in it at risk."

Lincoln made a face, he knew she had a point there, "Alright, so what's your plan?"

Skye answered when she broke through the lock on this door, "Get out of here and head to wherever they're keeping Robbie."

"You won't make it far," Lincoln said frowning, "This is a secret government lab crawling with agents and they all know that the only teenagers here are the ones meant to be observed here in this lab. They'll stop you before you get close, maybe even use that sleep stuff."

Skye groaned, "I'll manage just fine, I have to get to him."

The red light above the door that lead to the hallway turned green, it was unlocked and she could head out. Part of her considered maybe she should turn off the cameras so they couldn't see her, but she got worried that someone else might be monitoring the cameras and would alert the others if all the cameras happened to go off at the same time. She would have to deal with the cameras later.

Skye walked away from the computers and towards the door, however she was stopped when she noticed flashes of blue light coming from behind her. Her first thought went to Lincoln, since his electricity flashed like that. Curious and a little worried, Skye turned around as the flashing stopped only to see that it wasn't Lincoln who had been the cause. Standing before him and Elena, but facing her was a young man with a blue aura around his frame and no eyes.