Operations: Shadows
Chapter 14
Skye
November 13th 2014
Before they left for The Hub; May, Coulson and Ward were tasked with retrieving level 8 intel by busting out another agent from a compound somewhere in the Arctic.
Skye was not amused with the situation.
This was the first time since boarding the plane that she was being denied information. Even May, who has always kept her in the loop, is keeping information from her. She's taking the stance that it was time for Skye to learn how SHIELD really works.
Skye was really not amused.
She had complained, loudly, to both Jemma and Leo, who had sympathised with not know but simply shrugged their shoulders and mentioned it was above their level. That had made her roll her eyes. She didn't understand why everyone was so happy to be left in the dark regarding this mission, especially when it was half of their team in a potentially life-endangering situation.
Maybe it was her hacker background that was causing her hackles to rise at being left in the dark, or maybe it was her sever trust issues. No matter the reason, it had left her grumpy and it was going to get worse from here.
When they arrived at The Hub, Skye had been looking forward to spending their short down time with May and Fitz, something that May had been promised them. Instead, Hand requested Ward and Fitz for some super secret mission, which resulted in Skye being left sitting in the dark, once again, in what was essentially the reception area of The Hub.
It had infuriated Skye like nothing else. She had sat scowling at the floor, waiting for someone to remember that she was there. May had order her not to move from this area and to behave herself. Not only was that an extremely boring order, Skye still couldn't even use her phone to keep herself occupied as Coulson did not trust her to hack the system. The only reprieve that she had was when someone from the pack arrived to entertain her.
"Hey, aren't you that new kid that has Hand foaming at the mouth at being left unsupervised in her precious Hub?" Izzy said, grinning as she sat down next to Skye.
Skye blinked in confusion, turning to face her pack. "Are you even supposed to be talking to be me?"
Izzy let out a loud laugh, drawing the attention of agents around them. "Nope! Hand would have my ass if she knew I was speaking to Coulson's notorious, new, young, hacker." The older agent slung an arm around Skye.
"People know about me?" Skye questioned.
"Some." Izzy admitted, looking up at the ceiling. "Only those who know that Coulson's alive. Agent Hill enjoys mentioning your name in front of Hand and Fury to watch the way the two of them twitch at the sound of your name."
'Maria said you were getting moody at being left out.' Izzy thought to her, pulling her her phone for appearances. "So what's it like being on Coulson's team?"
Skye shrugged, slouching slightly. "It's certainly beats hacking from a van and not having contact access to hot water" Skye said off-handedly. 'I don't get moody.'
'You mention your past more when you are moody' Izzy commented, her hand squeezing Skye's shoulder's. "Mmm, having access to constant hot water is always a plus."
'Lies.' "Mhmm, plus, the cases are interesting and I'm learning how to fight."
"Good. Everyone should know at least the basic in martial arts and/or being a field agent. I think it's a policy that should be brought into SHIELD but, I don't think many of our scientist would ever finish the academy" Izzy joked, shifting slightly in her seat. 'It's the truth.'
Skye gave a snort. "I agree, they are total hermits half the time and think that their tech will help them with anything they encounter." 'I'm fine. Maria's just over-protective and also, I do not reference to my past more. I reference to it all the time. It's my tragic backstory.'
Izzy let out another laugh, "you know what, newbie? I think you'll fit perfectly at SHIELD. C'mon, let's take you on a tour." 'Lets go to somewhere more private.'
Izzy stood with ease, a wolfish grin plastered on her face. It should have been a dead giveaway to anyone looking that the agent was up to mischief.
"What about Coulson?" Skye questioned, mimicking Izzy by standing up.
"Eh, I'll let him know later." Izzy said, waving off Skye's concern. "Besides, I'm sure he or Agent May could track you with your nanny bracelet," the older agent had teased.
"Don't remind me" Skye scowled, glaring at the offending bracelet.
"C'mon, let's go"
Izzy led them to her room, flashing other agents charming smiles and holding out her badge when anyone looked at Skye suspiciously. At one point, Izzy had snapped that it was none of their business, she was a level 7 agent whereas they were a level 3 agent and how dare they question her.
Skye failed to hide her smirk at that one.
Finally, they arrived at Izzy's apartment within The Hub. It was larger than what Skye was expecting, but it was still small. The apartment was fitted with the basics, a small kitchen area, bedroom and common area. Skye looked around, the apartment was bare, it did not hold much personalised items.
"This is my apartment. I don't stay here much, I'm normally in Tori's." Izzy informed her, sitting on the couch and patting the space next to her. "C'mon, we will be here for a while. Come get some pack love."
"Ew."
Skye spent the next several hours getting to know Izzy more. Out of everyone in the pack, Izzy and Clint where the two that she has spent the least amount of time with. It was fun, getting to hear stories of what Izzy has been up to in the past, the crazy adventures she finds herself in as well as all the times she's pranked May.
After a few months of travelling on the bus, away from everyone else, it was nice to have something normal. Skye was disappointed that it didn't last much longer as May walked into the room, on the phone to Coulson and looking annoyed.
May heaved a sigh, "I found her. We will be back at the bus in half an hour." May told Coulson before ending the call angrily.
"Really you two?" She snapped, "Skye, I told you not to move and seriously, Izzy? You just decided to take her away? We have appearances to keep up, you can't just take her away and coddle her because she's upset at not being told everything."
Izzy held her hands up as she stood, for the first time since Skye had met her, she looked weary. "Maria asked me to check in on the kid, plus I haven't spent that much time with her. I haven't seen anyone from the pack in a while. Just Tori's."
"That's not an excuse." May growled. "Skye needs to learn. She choose this option, she choose to not have all the information. You can't just change your mind and throw a fit as soon as something doesn't go your own way." She finished, directing her last sentence at Skye.
Skye sat frozen on the couch. This was the first time May has been properly angry with her. She could feel her heart beating faster and tears welling up in her eyes. She squeezed them shut, desperately trying to calm herself down. She knew that May was just upset at the situation and not Skye, well she hoped. It was difficult to try and convince herself that whilst May and Izzy were arguing and making a lot of gestures in Skye's direction.
Eventually, Skye managed to pull herself together and stood, intending on stopping the two from arguing. "Why are we wasting time arguing? We can discuss it later, for now, we've got appearances to keep up and a bus to catch," Skye said cheerfully, pushing everything else aside to deal with later.
The two older wolves stopped and stared at Skye, before sharing a glance. May eventually scowled at Izzy before grabbing Skye and manoeuvring her towards the door.
"Don't forget who is in charge, Isabelle."
It wasn't long before Skye was back in Izzy's apartment, sitting on the couch listening to May and Izzy argue. Again. When May had taken her back to the bus, she had found out the Fitz and Ward were going on a mission to find and deactivate a device called Overkill which was being used by a South Ossetian group to declare independence from Russia and Georgia. They only had 24 hours to do so.
It was causing some worry amongst the pack and tensions were high. Fitz and Jemma both knew marital arts and the basics of shooting a gun, but, they weren't field agents. The only experience they had of doing field work was when they were with the pack and were shifted.
Plus, this was Fitz's first field mission away from the pack.
Jemma had been a nervous wreck, she had smiled weirdly at Fitz as she handed him his favourite sandwich and wished him good luck with a quick peck on the lips and a tight hug. Once Fitz and Ward had left, she quickly excused herself from the remainder of the team and went to go find Victoria.
According to May, Hand was acting weirdly, as though she was keeping a something from them that was important, or that would cause them to be angry with her. Skye had intended to find out, she just needed a way to hack the system. Do what she did best.
Skye looked back at May and Izzy, the two of them were standing close together, quieter than they were before, but still very much focused on each other. She looked down at her nanny bracelet in irritation, now would have been a perfect time to do some side hacking.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. The three pack mates glanced at each other before Izzy cautiously opened the door to reveal a very frazzled Simmons.
"We need to hack SHIELD."
In the end, Skye never got her down time with the pack that she was promised. Instead, she and Simmons hacked SHILED, "discovered" the lack of an extraction plan for Fitz, watched Simmons lie terribly and shoot a superior office, had Coulson yell at her and went on a crazy rescue mission to retrieve their team mates.
Just another day at SHIELD.
Skye was disappointed that they didn't get to spend time as a pack, although, she did appreciate the small amount of time that she had with Izzy. It was nice, getting to know the older wolf. She definitely was one of the more saner members of their pack and it was nice to be treated just normally for once, not that Skye was denying how much she loved being the focus of Natasha and Maria's affection.
She laid back on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She wanted to be in the cockpit with May and then sleep in the other wolf's bed. She wanted to cling to her and then pretend not to be awake in the mornings when May was trying to drag her out of bed.
Skye wondered if something had happened whilst she wasn't paying attention. She thought that they had come along so far, even Natasha had pointed out how open May was becoming with her. The pack had mentioned that May would have flashes of her old self again, where she was the strict, but caring counter-balance to their alpha.
Skye missed her pack.
The worst thing about leaving the Hub had been the fact that she saw Maria get off a plane as they left. It would have been nice to talk to the beta about the issues she was having with May. Instead, it was like a punch to the gut when she felt Maria's disappointment at the sight of them leaving. It would have been good a night if they had stayed. May, Maria and Izzy. All to herself.
Was that selfish of her?
Skye had appeared out of nowhere, she joined the pack to keep herself out of jail. She had previously leaked mission files and secrets that have had a direct impact on her pack and then she just joins and steals all the affection? Was this a trend from her past? How often did she do this in a new foster home? When meeting new families? Starting new schools?
'My room. Now.'
Skye had upset May. Shit.
After a few minutes of building up her courage, Skye finally made her way to May's room. She had dragged her feet the entire way, until she bumped into Ward wandering near Fitz's room.
"You know they are in Jemma's room, right?" Skye questioned him, folding her arms across her chest. She didn't like the way he smelled. He smelled suspicious, if that was even possible.
Ward blinked in surprise, looking down at her. "Didn't realise. Thought I'd practice that team bonding Coulson always goes on about and check up on him." He said with a roll of his eyes, mimicking the way Skye was standing.
"Wow Robot, you really do have a heart." She teased, any suspicion of ill intent washed away with those words. It really did seem like this team was helping to better everyone.
"Where are you off to?" He asked casually, leaning against the wall.
Skye shrugged, not intending on giving away how close she was to May. "Just a wander, might go sit in the cockpit if May isn't in it."
"Make sure she doesn't catch you, I'd rather not beat up an already broken trainee tomorrow morning." Ward smirked.
Skye rolled her eyes this time, "sure whatever you say, Robot. But remember, the pupil will always surpass the teacher." She joked back, shouldering as she moved passed him.
In a slightly better mood, Skye went wandering around the bus, making sure to keep an eye on the reflections and her sense to make sure Ward was not following her.
'Where are you.'
Skye winced at the almost snarl in May's tone, she really did not know what she did to piss off May but she really wasn't in any hurry to find out. Realistically, she knew that the longer she took, the more angry May would be with her. Finally, Skye decided to bite the bullet and went to see her somewhat alpha.
"Finally. What took you so long?" May demanded as she pulled Skye into her room.
Skye shrugged at her pack mate. "I ran into Ward outside Fitz's room. Made light conversation and then proceed to wander the bus till I knew he wasn't watching me."
May paused, tilting her head slightly as she seemed to consider Skye's words. Eventually, she made a soft grunt of acceptance before gripping Skye once more and yanking her close.
"Let's get one thing straight, not everything is about you Skye." May murmured, her tone dropping dangerously as she rested her forehead against Skye's, her hands tightening around Skye's arms."Not every emotion I have is a direct response to you. You are not my soulmate, you are not the centre of my world"
Skye swallowed harshly at those words and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth in an effect to stop the cry that wanted to escape.
"You are annoying. You are clingy. You are disobedient and act like a brat to get your own way and you can't control your emotions. You have no business being an agent."
"May, I-" Skye chocked out, gripping May's arms in an attempt to pull back from the woman.
"I'm not done." May said, sounding a lot calmer. "These are things I have to constantly think about and remind myself of when interacting with you in front of everyone. This is how I would have treated you, if you had not become a member of my pack. Skye, sweetheart, right now you are not an agent and you have issues following orders from anyone that isn't Natasha or Maria, and even then you still defy Maria when it suits you."
May sighed, finally taking a step back from Skye, holding her at arms length.
"I'm mad at you because I told you to stay in the visitor area and not to move, no matter what and yet you left." May explained. "I am more mad at Izzy because she knew that I was testing you and went behind my back anyways and got you to follow her."
Skye looked down at her feet. She hadn't realised how things looked from May's perspective. A new start joining the team on a whim, who refuses to follow orders and starts acting like she is in charge. May had every right to be angry at her, how many times has Skye messed up since joining the pack?
"I feel like I need to specify, I am only mad at you because you did not follow my orders at the HUB yesterday." May stressed.
"I'm fucked up." Skye whispered, ashamed of herself.
May sighed again, moving close to Skye and tilted her head up. "No you aren't, you're just a kid who hasn't had much guidance in their life and a massive issue with authority figures. We are working on it, but we will work on it harder." May paused for a moment, seemingly gathering her thoughts.
"I realise it is a lot, but Skye, these things would make it easier on me during work." May admitted, not quiet meeting Skye's eyes. "It would mean that I wouldn't have to stand against you so much, I would be less judgemental. I could even join in on training sessions with you and Ward but I need you to try and act like a trainee agent."
By this point, Skye was a mess. Tears were streaming down her face as she listened to May. She would like to be able to go a week without bursting into tears. She swiped at her eyes quickly before nodding her head in agreement. "I'll try," she whispered.
"That's all I can ask." May replied smoothly. "Come here, Pup." she cooed, opening her arms, desperate to get rid of the sadness that Skye was feeling.
Skye did not even hesitate as she flung herself in May's arms, clinging to her desperately, "I love you." Skye sobbed, burying her head in the crook of May's neck.
"I love you too, pup."