NOTE: Only been a month since my last update! Maybe trying to start a new leaf this year? (we can all hope) Someone pls remind me like half way through February that I need to update this fic or I will forgot how much time has passed between updates. Although, I am looking forward to next chapter so hopefully, it wont be long before a new update!
Also 10k+ update for you guys...enjoy and as always please leave a comment, I love hearing your guys thoughts on this (also like every other writer, gives me motivation!)
P.S SHOUT OUT, if you have read Bad Girls Shenanigans by Goatcatcher21 (on AO3), you should go read it! If you love my fic, you'll love this fic. Leave me some good fic recs and I'll give a shout out next chap!
Operation: Shadows
Chapter 18
Maria
August 12th 2004
After her time with Peggy last night, Maria went to Natasha's room to spend the night with her pack. When she arrived at the room, she found all three of them curled up watching a movie.
"I didn't take you for a cuddler, Izzy." Maria teased the older agent, climbing into bed, gently nudging May out the way.
Izzy rolled her eyes at Maria, "whatever that weird wolf serum contains, makes you want to cuddle and spend time with you guys."
"At least we know it's doing its job then."
"You designed a serum to make people want to cuddle?" Izzy asked, amused.
"No, we designed a serum to break down you immune system, build you back up stronger with a mental connection to the pack. Can't be down without physical contact. We tried, turned out horribly." Maria retorted, finally in the position that she wanted.
"You're joking, right?"
"You'll never know." Maria replied mysteriously. She looked down at Izzy, pulling the older agent into her side before looking over at their Alpha. Maria raised an eyebrow in question.
"Might as well do it straight away. Izzy is our first without any obvious complications, we should keep it that way," Natasha shrugged, pulling May onto her lap. May scowled playfully at this and moved them both so that Natasha was resting in her lap.
"What are you talking about?" Izzy asked, looking between the three existing wolves.
"Part of creating a pack involves the Beta and Alpha marking their pack members. It's helps to avoid conflict and create that pack bond that is needed to succeed." Maria explained, her fingers going into Izzy's hair. She moved the hair to reveal the side of her neck.
"So...are we talking marking as in, like, pissing on me or marking as in like, biting down?"
"Marking as in biting." Maria replied softly, tilting her head. Her wolf wanted so badly to hurry up and bite down to make Izzy theirs. A low growl rumbled in her throat at the thought.
"Well, might as well get it over and done with now then." Izzy said, putting on a brace front.
"It's okay to be nervous. I'm not going to lie, the first couple of seconds will be painful but it should give way to utter bliss shortly after." Natasha said, taking over the explanation for the Beta.
Izzy nodded and looked up at Maria. "How do you want me?" She asked cheekily, tilting her neck.
Maria reacted very strongly to that with a snarl of approval. She quickly shoved Izzy down flat on the bed and stretched body across hers, her lips resting near the crook of her neck where the scent was the strongest. In a surprising mutual agreement between packs, they all agreed that marking should be done on the left side of the neck to leave potential soulmate markings for the right side.
Maria groaned softly at Izzy's scent. She could already start to smell the differences and could tell that she would fit in well with their pack.
"The longer you wait, the more you are going to freak her out." Natasha commented, watching them with interest.
Maria nodded her head and pecked Izzy's lips before lowering her mouth and sinking them into her neck. She allowed her more wolf-ish tendencies to appear and another growl tore through her lips as Izzy let out a yelp. Izzy began to struggle underneath her grip but she held on tightly, her fingers digging into Izzy's arms.
"Fuck, shit this hurts!" Izzy yelped.
"Give it a few seconds, Iz. Should start to feel good soon." Natasha soothed, struggling to keep her hands to herself. If she touched Izzy now whilst Maria was marking her, it would cause a few issues.
"When exactly will thi- oh. Ohhhh, oh shit that feels. Fuuuuck." Izzy groaned, her body finally relaxing under Maria's. "Know I get it."
Maria smirked against Izzy's neck, the feeling of bliss also washing over her. She only had one regret, she really should have done this from the side, that way Izzy was holding all of Maria's weight whilst being blissed out. Noted for future.
'Help me move.' She asked Natasha and Mel.
'What position?' Melinda asked, looking down at the two.
'Me on my back with Izzy on top.'
'Just a simple flip. Easy enough' Natasha said.
Natasha and Melinda made quick work of moving the two wolves, they softly rolled Maria onto her back and helped position Izzy in a more comfortable manor on top of Maria. Once the two were settled, Melinda and Natasha curled up on each side of the pair, helping to create the pack bond.
"This I could get used to."
August 13th 2004
Maria wished the bliss of last night could have lasted much longer than it did. Unfortunately, with Maria's luck, she only got 12 hours of peace with her new pack member before chaos ensured. At least the peace lasted longer than it did when Melinda was chosen, that was all of 5 seconds before it went to shit.
Currently, Maria was hiding behind Natasha and Peggy as Victoria Hand attempted to murder her. What a charming way to start her morning.
"I didn't know!" She snapped at the older woman. "Do you think I'd deliberately do this to you just to fuck with you?"
"Yes! You are a bitch Maria Hill. A cold, heartless bitch who will do whatever it takes to end up on top." Victoria snarled, attempting to get out of Tobias, Jayden and Kara's grasp.
"Does your pack always need to have drama with each member?" Jayden grunted as he gripped Victoria around the waist.
"It's not exactly intentional." Natasha deadpanned. "How does one account for one near murder, two soulmates?"
"For once, we can't really blame this on Hill or Romanoff." Tobias reasoned.
"Peggy, can't you use a command or something?" Kara begged, looking exhausted as she took the brunt of Victoria's force.
"It's better that she comes to terms with this on her own rather than me influencing her emotions." Peggy stated calmly. "I'm only here to make sure Maria and Isabelle do not get hurt."
"She's my soulmate! She should be in my pack! Everyone else gets their soulmate in their pack but not me?" Victoria snarled, tossing Kara to the side once again.
Maria peaked between the two Alphas in front of her. "I've already marked her. If we try and swap now, we have no idea what it will do! Could you handle it if Izzy turned out like me?"
That comment made everyone freeze.
"Maria..." Natasha started, looking softly at the Beta.
"I have a point and we all know it. None of us know how its going to be when I find my soulmate. No one here knows the true extend of our connection – and no, I will not be elaborating on that. Do we really want to risk this with someone else? I don't want to fuck Izzy up." Maria finished quietly.
Victoria growled angrily, but stopped attempting to go after Maria.
"I swear Victoria, I had no idea that she would be your soulmate. I honestly thought the two of you would not get on well and it would cause issues within the pack. If I had even a hint of her being your soulmate, I would never have chosen her for my own pack." Maria explained, trying to show that she really would have given up Hartley.
Victoria closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths as she took in what Maria was saying. The rest of the packs were quiet as they allowed the Alpha the time to come to terms with what Maria said. Eventually, Victoria spoke up.
"I'm not happy with this." She stated.
Maria nodded at this, that was obvious.
"I suggest you stay out my way for a while, Hill. Otherwise, I might finish what the other wolves started." Victoria threatened.
Now that caused a reaction from Peggy. Peggy moved swiftly and slammed Victoria to the ground, yanking one arm behind her back and twisted hard until it snapped. Victoria yelled out in pain and struggled underneath the Alpha.
Peggy held on tightly until Victoria stopped struggling, only the sounds of her heavy breathing could be heard as everyone else was frozen around the room.
"Make a threat like that again." Peggy began softly, "and you'll lose you arm. Understood?"
"Yes Ma'am." Victoria hastily agreed.
"Good. I do not wish to do this to you ever again, it does not bring me any pleasure at all." Peggy further explained and slowly got off Victoria's back.
Peggy helped the other wolf to her feet and set her arm in the correct position. She held out her hand and Kara appeared out of nowhere, holding a sling. Peggy easily manoeuvred Victoria's arm into the sling and ensure that it was comfortable and holding her arm correctly.
Once she had ensured that, she gently cupped Victoria's face. "I really don't like doing this but I really couldn't let what you said slide, Victoria. I hope that you will forgive me."
Victoria nodded, pressing her cheek into Peggy's hand. Kara approached the pair and moulded herself to Victoria's side, a soft whimper in the back of her throat.
"I'm sorry Kara, you did not deserve that." Victoria apologised, wrapping an arm around her Beta.
Isabelle finally made a cautious move toward Victoria. Maria and Natasha track her moves warily but they know Victoria would never lay a finger on Isabelle.
Izzy finally approached the trio and gripped the back of Victoria's neck, softly pulling their foreheads together. A rather intimate move for the new soulmate couple.
"We should leave them to it." Natasha muttered, looking over at the other two alphas who nodded and disappeared with their packs. "C'mon, I need some Hill loving after that."
Maria gave a snort of amusement, but did not disagree with what Natasha said. She could really use the reassurance of the Alpha and her mate.
August 14th 2004
4am
Maria woke with a start and climbed out of bed, ignoring the grunts of annoyance from the two occupants who were curled around her. Maria was also ignoring the fact that the base was rather cold and she was rather naked.
"Maria come back to bed, it's freezing." Natasha complained sleepily, making grabby hands at her Beta.
Maria ignored Natasha's complaining and continued her journey to the other side of the room, where Natasha kept some stuff for a home office. Recklessly, Maria tore through the supplies in search of what she needed.
"Rookie, what the fuck? It's 4am!" Melinda groaned, sitting up.
Maria continued to ignore them. She crouched down to the bottom draw, yanking it straight off the rails.
"Maria?" Natasha questioned, her concern growing.
"Is she sleep walking?" Melinda asked, looking at her mate.
Natasha watched on with a frown. Maria seemed to be obsessed with finding something. She climbed out of bed, wrapping her gown around her and grabbing Maria's. She slowly made her way over to the Beta, making sure her steps were loud in order not to startle her. She gentle draped the gown over Maria and tied it around her waist.
Maria ignored her the entire time.
Natasha crouched down, getting eye level with Maria. She placed a finger under her chin and gently pulled her faced towards her.
"Mia?" She asked softly, but there was no response. There was no look of recognition on her face whatsoever. It was like staring at a blank canvas and it shocked Natasha to her core.
"Peggy. You need to come here now." Natasha announced in a much louder voice, the fear she felt was easily heard by the head Alpha.
Maria seemed to find what she was looking for; pen and paper. She laid the paper out and then began furiously sketching out symbols.
"Natasha, whats wron- shit," Peggy cursed when she saw Maria. "No, no, no, no. Please no." She begged, quickly getting on her knees and pulled Maria in close. "Fight it, Maria, please fight it."
Natasha took a step back, bumping into May who wrapped her arms around her waist. "I don't understand."
"I'm not sure what's going on either but Peggy does."
Peggy continued to hold a struggling Maria in a tight hold, pleading with her to snap out of it. It took 15 minutes for Maria to come back from whatever daze she was in.
"Peggy?" She mumbled tiredly, looking up at the Alpha. "What'r you doing here?" she slurred, exhaustion taking over her body.
"Maria...look at what you were drawing."
Maria looked over at Natasha and Melinda and was shocked to see fear on their faces. Where they scared of her? What the hell did she do? She turned her head and looked at the drawings that she made and felt herself freeze.
"No."
Skye
January 25th 2015
It has been over a month since their week off. Skye immensely enjoyed the time spent with Bobbi, finding it to be one of the best weeks of her life. The two had bonded over many things, such as favourite tv shows and food. Bobbi even managed to convince Skye to marathon the Star Wars movies three times in a week. Three times!
She couldn't even find it within herself to tease Bobbi about it because the other woman was simply in love with the universe. So, Skye had sucked it up and cuddled her for all six films. It ended up being a win-win situation, Bobbi got to watch the movies and spend time with Skye and Skye got to sprawl all over Bobbi and get that skin-to-skin contact she had been craving.
The two of them still had not officially mated, but had agreed that once Skye had full control of her enhanced abilities and another week off, they would mate and become an official soulmate couple. Thankfully, it would seem that they would just be waiting for another week off as Bobbi convinced Peggy and Natasha to let Skye have full use of her enhanced abilities during her week off to get used to them and used to shielding her thoughts from the pack.
When she had gotten full control, she was overwhelmed. The initial level of abilities she had were amazing, she could hear conversations in another room, slightly more powerful than your average human and healed at an accelerated rate as well.
The level of power she held already would have suited Skye fine but once Natasha and Peggy stopped blocking her powers, she almost collapsed in pain, begging for them to put it back how it was.
Bobbi and Peggy looked pained as they watched Skye try to adjust to the changes in her body. It was a stark reminder that they should never have let Skye stay on the bus once she had agreed to join the pack. It was simply too much to handle on your own and holding it back seemed to have an even worse effect on a wolf. Now they knew for the future, but none of them were happy about how this came about.
Maria had eventually made a reappearance, still looking run down and cuts all over her body. Skye had winced when she saw a nasty bruise on Maria's jawline. She had shot her soulmate a questionable look, since getting access to her full abilities, she knew that a bruise like that should have healed almost instantly, if not, within an hour or so.
Bobbi had glanced at Peggy before explaining.
"Sometimes, we get hurt in front of other agents. It would be really suspicious if we broke a bone or got stabbed and was healed by the end of the day. So, we realised we had to do something to either cover up our injuries or to slow down the healing process."
"We have so many fun ways." Maria had said sarcastically and flopped down onto the couch.
"We normally try and avoid going on missions with other agents but when we can't avoid it, we do our best not to get injured. Otherwise, we have to try and adjust our body's healing abilities or ingest silver to prevent ourselves from healing." Bobbi explained further.
"Ingest silver?" Skye made a face. She remembered the feeling of being shot by that silver bullet and the burning sensation of the silver fragments.
"Yeah, it's the most effective way right now. In recent years, we've managed to have more control over our abilities and learned to slow the healing down. Generally though, only Natasha and Maria can do it since they've been the wolves the longest. Even then, it drains Maria when she does it and risks losing control anyways."
"So how do we ingest the silver then?"
"We've made it into little liquid capsules that you take as soon as you take a bit hit in front of someone. They aren't detrimental to our lives, but they have enough of an effect to reduce us back to normal humans. Other ways is to wear something silver, the constant contact on your skin over the period of a few hours is enough to reduce your abilities till you get home." Bobbi had continued and pulled out a capsule from her pocket to show Skye.
"I didn't think you were on a mission with many other agents?" Peggy questioned, sitting down next to Maria and pulling her head into her lap.
"Wasn't originally, but then it turned semi-public, there was a video and another agent. Ugh, it was this whole thing now I have to had this massive bruise on my face for like a week or so." Maria grumbled.
Sky had felt bad for the senior agent and had spent the rest of the day making sure that she was spoilt and smothered in love. Maria seemed to soak it up and clung to Skye like a lost puppy. Thankfully Bobbi didn't seem put out by sharing the day with Maria and happily joined in the love fest.
Then, they had celebrated the holidays, which had been the best Christmas of Skye's life. They had only been able to grab Christmas day and boxing day off together and even then, Maria was still working as Fury had taken some time off.
It had been good, Skye had struggled to get Bobbi a present but ended up ending her a fancy replica lightsaber and a new pair of batons – Even though they were getting to know each other better, Skye was still trying to figure out what Bobbi liked other than Star Wars and work.
Bobbi had gotten Skye a shiny knife, which cause most of the pack to laugh.
"You're all laughing now but just watch, once she's trained up on knifes she will be a force to be reckoned with." Bobbi had warned the pack.
It made Skye smile at the amount of faith Bobbi had in her to become a great SHIELD agent (and knife wielder). Other than the presents, it had been a nice few days off. The pack went for a traditional nightly run on Christmas, running until the early hours in the morning. Skye had found the tradition tiring, but Natasha had told her than once she was more used to her wolf body and spent more time in it, it would be a breeze. She was still a pup after all, still had some growing to do.
With all the holidays and time off over, it was back to reality and how shitty was reality. Don't get her wrong, she loved being on the bus and participating in the missions but being with the pack and just goofing us was something different. It soothed her soul and filled a gap in her heart that she didn't know she had.
Skye sighed as she wondered around the bus, they were due a mission soon and were simply just waiting, which was the worst. The only thing she could think to do was something she had been putting off – continuing her search for her parents.
She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about it, Maria and Peggy said that they would look into it for her but this was supposed to be Skye's search, not a pack search. The redacted SHIELD still weighed heavily on her mind and whilst Maria and Peggy thought they were being subtly in the looks they shot each other, they were not. Skye knew that there was something about that file that was off putting but no one was willing to share with her.
She didn't let it get in her way though, putting her faith in the pack that there was a good reason as to why they had not mentioned it to her. It could be that they have not got all the information yet and are waiting on more info before coming back to her.
After their trip to The HUB, Coulson had told her that an unidentified SHIELD agent had dropped her off at the orphanage. She still wasn't too sure how she felt about that – was the agent her parent? Did they just find her and took her to somewhere safe? Worse, what if Skye really was an 084 and was part of some secret evil experiment. She really had no idea and she wasn't in the mood to discuss it with the pack until she knew more.
But, searching for the agent who could have potentially dropped her off (and potentially be her parent) she headed back to her room to do some work. It would be a good practice of using SHIELD systems as well. On her way to her bunk, she heard the sounds of May and Ward sparring and made a face. Whilst she did enjoy a good work out as a wolf, her human side still hated the idea of exercising and knew that if she took too long to pass by, May or Ward would rope her into a sparring lesson. No thank you.
Although...the more she listened... the more it sounded like flirting. What the heck? Opening up her connection to May (and Fitz) she decided to ask.
'Are you flirting with Ward?'
'Ew. I did not need that mental image, Skye' Fitz complained from his lab, her eyes moving over data on his latest project.
'We're bonding'
'Sounds like you are two seconds away from fucking him'
'Go back to being grossed out about my sex life,' May grumbled.
Fitz sniggered at the interaction between the two of them 'I still can't believe you said 'ew' to her face!'
'Shut up...it's just weird.' Skye gave a shudder.
She was still unsure of the point in her relationship with May where she went from 'Holy shit she is hot' to 'She's badass, looks amazing and she should flaunt it...riiiight after she spends time cuddling with me and teaching me stuff'. Heck, she wasn't sure if anyone in the pack was aware when their relationship shifted. She tried not to think about how she passively thought May would be a good lay to thinking the way she did now.
'You went quiet, you alright?' Fitz questioned, 'want me to come keep you company and keep the icky thoughts of May having sex away?' He teased her.
Skye rolled her eyes at her pack mate, 'no it's okay, thanks though.'
'Alright, you know where I am if you need me.'
'So dramatic.' May grouched
'Go back to flirting.' Skye and Fitz said in unison.
May gave them an amused snort before leaving their mind, Skye gave Fitz an appreciative thought before finally reaching her bunk and settling in to do some searching. It turned out that there could be a few agents how could be her parent, some of them were pretty cool.
Of course, Coulson came in shortly to advise of a briefing in 5 minutes and to remind her that the agent that dropped her off was most likely not her parent. Way to burst her bubble.
Skye grumbled as she made her way to the command centre, hearing Coulson take a snippy tone with May and Ward as he told them to towel down and meet him in the command centre. Seems Coulson wasn't too happy with May and Ward's flirting either. She wondered what was that was about, she knew that Coulson wasn't mark but apparently had this thing with Fury so she was unsure why he seemed pissed about May flirting with other people.
Skye smiled when she entered the command centre and saw Fitz and Simmons already there. She took her place next to Fitz and bumped against him slightly, getting the contact that she had been craving for the past few hours.
'So, how does it feel to be able to control your thoughts now and not constantly have them projecting to the pack?' He questioned.
'Good. Means I can actually think about stuff without anyone getting worried or butting into my thoughts.' Skye responded, 'although, when I open the connection up and get the static noise, it's very irritating.'
'Yeah, hahaha, someone will notice quickly and open up their connection. I think the longest I went without anyone was maybe 30 seconds? The static is torture though.'
"What are you two talking about?" Jemma whispered, keeping her voice low. "Also, it's really suspicious that the three of us are in here but not talking."
"Just stuff about Skye having full control of her abilities and the static noise." Fitz summarised for his mate.
"Ugh, I loath that noise. Honestly, it really gives me a headache if I listen to it for too long." Jemma complained.
"What are you three whispering about?" Coulson enquired, a smile on his face. "Or at least, I think you are whispering, but I couldn't actually hear anything."
Jemma and Fitz looked like they had been caught in a lie and Skye had to prevent herself for smacking them both.
'Real subtle.'
"You two have the worst poker face ever." Skye complained, "we were talking about how we should set up another game night and make tacos for everyone after this mission. You know, have those fun team bonding stuff that you always want us to do."
Coulson smiled at Skye, "I think that's an excellent idea, Skye."
"What's an excellent idea?" Ward questioned as he arrived with May in tow.
"Nothing." Coulson answered for them, sending a wink Skye's way.
'I guess we actually have to do it now?' Skye asked Fitz.
'Think so.'
'Do what?' May questioned.
'Nothing!' They chimed, making sure to try and send along the feeling of innocence as much as possible to annoy May.
'Brats.' May said fondly.
After everyone arrived, Coulson gave them a run down of the mission. They were to go locate a convict, Edison Po, that had been taken from prison by some centipede solider. Skye figured Maria would be interested to know that more and more of their missions were involving centipede now. It seemed that the organisation just popped out of nowhere and suddenly had this advance technology and clearly had a financial investor.
Before the could continue with their mission, they were going to get some backup. An old mission, Coulson had said, which meant only one thing. They were going to get Mike Peterson.
Mike Peterson had been her first unofficial mission with the team, it had went great as far as missions go. Stopped the bad guy who was actually a good guy done dirty by the world and stopped him from blowing up due to the volatile serum running through his body. Coulson had told them that Peterson was stable now and was currently at the SHIELD academy learning to harness his new abilities.
Skye held the mission in a fond place in her heart, this mission is what lead her to her new life. Even if she wasn't told about the genetic mutation shit until after the mission ended when the team flung her in the cage and gave her the ultimatum, which will always seem bad when she looks back on it.
Once Mike had boarded the bus, Coulson gave everyone jobs. May was flying the plan to Ohio to try and track down one of the centipede soldiers through his university sisters, Coulson had just given Peterson a brief and sent him to speak to Fitz and Simmons in their lab to get him fitted for a suit.
She could smell Jemma's mischievousness a mile away. Not for the first time, Skye wished she could also read Jemma's mind. She can of read her mind, but she would have to go through Fitz's first. Basically, Fitz had to use his soulmate connection with Jemma and then open up his pack connection. It was a faint connection, but it worked in dire times.
However, she could hear the way Jemma's body changed once Peterson had boarded, her heart rate increased slightly and the way she spoke had a different tone to it. Skye was sure that these differences were the reason as to why she seemed more mischievous right now.
"You know we have tools that can takes these measurements?" Fitz grumped
"Do we? Silly me." Jemma replied with feign innocence.
Fitz grumbled some more as the two of them looked over Peterson, both were shocked when the realised that their gun had cause the stabilisation within him and not something that SHIELD had done. The three of them continued to chat about his abilities and the making of the suit, which Jemma pretended to keep babbling about how handsome Peterson was.
"When did you stop talking?"
"About three embarrassing sentences ago." Fitz deadpanned
"Right." Jemma responded, sounding flustered.
Skye gave a snort. No one would have thought that pristine Jemma Simmons would flirt with people to prank her soulmate.
'Skye, Jemma is being mean to me and flirting with other men. What is it with the women in these packs?' Fitz complained to her.
'You know I'm a woman, right?'
'Yeah, but you're not like them. You're Skye. Puppy Skye, you can do no wrong.' Fitz replied, saving himself from being in the doghouse.
'Nice save.' Skye chuckled.
"Jemma, be nice to Fitz." She admonished the Brit in the worst British accent that she could put on.
"Skye that was the worst accent I have ever heard." Jemma groaned
"Cut it out you three. Just because Coulson and Ward are not on the bus, does not mean you can go around talking to yourselves. The walls have ears."
Skye winced 'Sorry May.'
'Good point, sorry May. Jemma apologises as well.' Fitz thought.
Skye went back to her research into Po's life in prison, checking to see who he interacted with, the background of any cells mates and those in close proximity to him as well as any potential visitors. Skye blinked when she noticed one bit of footage from visitors that was interesting.
Sticking to May's advise of not being too relaxed in their method of communication, she went to the telecoms near the command centre.
"May, I've found something looking through this footage that is worth looking at." Skye said through the speakers.
"On my way." May replied.
As Skye waited for May, she went back to her search of looking at agents who could be her parents. Coulson had mentioned earlier today that May was looking into it as well. With May, Maria and Peggy all looking into, as well as Skye, hopefully they would be able to get some answers soon. Skye really wished Coulson would hurry up and take the nanny bracelet off so that she can properly search SHILED's systems for more answers. Wishful thinking.
Hearing May's footsteps approaching, Skye looked up from her research and smiled at her mentor. "Hey May, listen Coulson told me that you were looking into the file on my parents, I have some stuff that might be of use in your search."
May stared at her, disappointment slowly creeping into her face "this is why you called me down?"
"What? No, of course not."
"Good. Keep you head in the game, Skye." She warned. "What did you find?"
Taking the warning to heart, Skye walked to the command centre and pulled up the footage she found of a visitor to Po. "A girl in a flower dress. Think its the same girl that Miles and Chan were talking about?"
"Too much of a coincidence for it not to be. Is there audio for this footage?"
"No, but I could use SHIELD lip reading programme and can I just say how cool is it that we have a lip reading programme? Do you realise how th-"
"Skye." May interrupted.
"Right, so I couldn't get what she was saying because she's not looking at the camera, but Po does, once. This is what he said" Skye said and played the recording.
"The clairvoyant does not like to be touched."
"That is like the creepiest thing ever so I wrote it down so we don't ever have to listen to that again." Skye joked, glancing at May who looked concerned.
"The clairvoyant does not like to be touched." May repeated with a frown.
"Does that mean something to you?" Skye asked with a tilt of her head, surely the pack would have mentioned a clairvoyant in one of their many discussions over the holidays.
"No. But it means something to Po and the woman in the flower dress."
"Raina." Peterson called as he walked towards them. "She's called Raina, she was the one who recruited me to centipede, came straight to the hospital where I was doing my therapy actually. Told me she could change my life"
'Familiar feeling.' Skye thought to May with a smirk. However, the fact that this was a programme and were recruiting people who were hurt, changing their lives and another serum which alters their genetics, she couldn't help but wonder if the pack secret was fully out and people were attempting to recreate it.
May ignored Skye's thought in favour of staring at Peterson with a thoughtful expression before narrowing her eyes. "We should let Coulson know. He should be done with his little play pretend game."
Both Skye and Peterson looked at May weirdly for the comment, but Skye did not hesitate to call Coulson straight away to let him know what was going on.
"You got something?" Coulson asked, not bothering with pleasantries.
"Yeah, Po only had one visitor during his time in jail. A woman called Raina who wears a flower dress, sound familiar?" May replied.
"Thats too much of a coincidence to be ignored. So this Raina person, she organised for three super soldiers to bust him out of prison?"
"Would seem so. Po's background is tactical strategy."
"Sounds like they are building an army," Skye supplied.
"Well, that's fun." Coulson responded cheerily.
"So they have super soldiers, an expert military strategist and a clairvoyant? Maybe I should switch teams." Skye joke.
'Skye.' May cautioned
'Too soon, Skye, too soon!' Fitz chuckled
"Too much?" Skye asked aloud when no one responded to her joke.
"Yeah, maybe just a little too soon to be making jokes about swapping for the other side." Coulson grimaced.
"Noted."
"Also, clairvoyant?" Coulson questioned.
"Po told Raina that the clairvoyant does not like to be touched." May supplied.
"Well thats not ominous at all."
There was a moment of silence as everyone took the news in.
"Ward is just approaching the sister the now. We will make contact once we get a location." Coulson advised.
"You're only just making contact?" May question, eyebrow raised.
"Ward and I were bonding, okay?" He defended himself, "Go run this clairvoyant through our database Skye, see if anything comes up. The rest of you stay on stand by, you should hear back from us in 20 minutes of so."
"Copy." May responded and ended the call.
'What is it, national bond with Ward day? Coulson's not gonna try and fuck him as well is he? Ew!' Skye complained. So many people were buttering up to Ward today, it was weird.
"Skye, go do as Coulson asked. Peterson, go down to the lab, FitzSimmons should have made headway on your suit by nice."
"Yes Ma'am." They responded.
'Coulson and I just have a similar plan of getting Ward engaged in the team.' May told Skye.
'Mhm, more like get Ward in your pants. I'm telling Nat!'
May rolled her eyes at her protege and smacked her across the back of her as she passed by.
'Child abuse!' Skye yelled after yet
'Its more like assault. Better get used to if you plan on continuing this cheating joke you've got going.'
'Alright, alright, no more teasing May about cheating.' Skye surrendered.
'And that, Fitz, is how you get someone to stop pranking you. You should try it on Simmons or she is going to continue to make heart eyes at Peterson. She might even join in the Ward train.' May joked with the younger pack members.
'I KNEW IT!'
'The betrayal! Everyone is in on this getting with Ward situation. Maybe we should make it into a holiday and flirt with him?' Fitz asked Skye.
'Do you even know how to flirt with a guy?'
'I can flirt with Clint!'
'Clint doesn't take much to be seduced kid. I wouldn't parade that about.' May added, smirking mentally at her pups.
'I can think of something.' Fitz pouted
'Sure you can.' Skye soothed her pack mate, trying her hardest not to giggle.
The rest of the mission went horribly. Skye couldn't believe what happened as she sat numb in her bunk. Coulson was missing and Mike Peterson was dead. She could feel her eyes welling at up her thoughts. Her friend was gone, no trace of him and Ace Peterson lost his father. Ace was currently sleeping in a spare bunk as they flew to one of their bases – May hadn't mentioned which one. She just told them all to retreat and she would make contact with HQ.
Skye buried her face in the pillow she held. She wasn't used to this, not used to things going wrong on their mission. Sure, sometimes plans fall through and they have to improvise, but nothing like this.
Their plan of attack for the past few hours kept changing as they realised centipede was more ahead than they thought. The fight in the warehouse was terrible, May couldn't use her enhanced strength as she fought off multiple super soldiers and Mike was clearly outmatched when it came to them as well. But they kept fighting and somehow made it out alive.
Coulson had tried to get answered form Hayward, the man they were tracking, but he refused to answer and instead just pleaded for his life by saying that he wouldn't say anything right before his eye seemed to give a tiny explosion and he dropped dead.
Fitz and Simmons examined the body and said that the eye was the same one that they dealt with when they encountered Amador, which explained why Hayward was saying that. How is it that they've been chasing these guys down since their first day together and they were still in the dark about centipede?
'Do you think centipede know about us?' Skye asked May quietly, unsure if she would reply. May had closed them off as soon as they realised that Coulson was taken.
It took May a while to respond, but she did. 'What makes you think that?'
'Just the increase in the silver bullets and now centipede is making super soldiers. Just seems like this could go hand in hand.'
May sighed, opening up their connection a bit more to allow Skye the view of the sky. The two of them sat in silence for a bit, watching the clouds go by. Skye rested her head against the wall, she could almost feel the warmth of May, if only she could just reach to her side and hug the older wolf. Skye knew that due to the situation, she couldn't go sit with May without raising suspicion from Ward. This was as good as it was going to get and Skye was just grateful that it was helping to relieve her panic.
'It is suspicious.' May agreed after a while, 'I'm just not sure if it is connected. An attempt at recreating the super solider serum is always made every few years, and its been about 5 or 6 since the last attempt to we were over due this.'
'Its just, this, the silver bullets and Maria's increase paranoia... I don't know, something isn't sitting right with me.' Skye bit her lip, she could feel the panic creep up again. She wasn't sure what to make of the building situation. Maybe it was just the fact that Coulson had been kidnapped that was throwing Skye, he may not be pack but he meant a lot to her.
"Hey Skye, you alright?" Fitz asked
Skye blinked and looked to see Fitz and Jemma standing at her door. Both of the had matching looks of concern. Jemma's hand was curled around Fitz's bicep as they stood waiting on Skye responding.
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Come watch a movie with me?" She asked hopefully. Skye was hoping that the movie would work as a distraction for herself until they reach The Hub.
Both of the wolves moved onto the bed with Skye, sitting down next to her on either side. The presence of her pack mate helped sooth the anxiety that she was feeling as she leaned against him.
'Good. Stay together until we get to The Hub, we should be there in around two hours.' May advised them before closing the link off. Skye assumed she wanted some privacy to sort out her thoughts.
"We'll get him back. Tori will know what to do." Jemma reassured them, and most likely herself.
The couple looked shaken up at the experience. Skye knew that the two of them were mainly used to combat in their wolf form compared to when they were human but she also know that Natasha refused to let them into the field without having the basic of self defence down.
She wondered how often they were actually in combat situations, especially since the pack were often split up now. Before they were sent over the place, did they often go on missions together, what kind of missions required people who could shift into wolves?
Questions for another time she supposed as she burrowed between her two friends. Right now they had to focus on getting Coulson back as soon as possible.
Their stop at The Hub had been very brief, Skye had not even left the bus. Victoria Hand and a handful of agents were already waiting for them with their bags packed. Hand had given them all cold and calculating looks and Skye couldn't help but be slightly afraid of the woman.
Logically, she knew the other wolf would not be out to get her, the wolves stuck together even if they were in a separate pack. Also, Jemma was utterly smitten with the woman, so someone as sweet and gentle as Jemma would not be in love with the cold, heartless woman like Hand, right?
All Skye knew right now was that Hand seemed to hate her. She threw annoyed looks at Skye whenever she is around, as tho Skye's mere presence was slowly killing her. She attempted to question Jemma about it, but the other wolf just gave her a nervous smile and shook her head – a silent sign that she was not going to answer. For the sake of their friendship, she did not push it. She knew if push come to shove, Jemma would choose Hand over her every time.
Naturally, Skye tried asking May. Naturally, May was avoiding Skye. She attempted to use their link to speak but ever since Hand came aboard their plane, May had shut herself off to everyone else. Fitz seemed upset that May wasn't talking to them during this time, but every time she questioned it he just gave her a small smile and kiss to the forehead saying not to worry.
At least Fitz got Hand, perks of being soulmates with the youngest of her pack. Skye had no one and she was not pouting over that.
It was coming up for nearly 40 hours since Coulson went missing and they were currently running a mission to get a seller called Vanchat who was selling Chitauri metal – the same kind used for the centipedes device.
May and Ward were going in as the specialists, FitzSimmons were to provide cover with their drones in case Vanchat got away and Skye was providing backup by hacking into their systems to prevent escape. Hand and her group were stationed outside to intercept nay escapes.
Fitz, Simmons and Skye had all be delegated to one of the cars and were currently watching the CCTV footage of the building. In Skye's opinion, they had the easiest part of the job. Fitz and Simmons skilfully blinded Vanchat (despite Simmons reservations) and Skye made the elevator go shooting up to where Hand's group where waiting for him.
All in all, it was probably one of the more easier missions that the team had dealt with. Though Skye wondered if that was down to the pure machine that Hand was.
Whilst Hand seemed to hold a certain level of distain for Skye, Skye could not fault the women for her mission prep. She seemed to cover every angle and made use of every single agent that she had. It reminded her of the way that Maria handled her missions.
Whenever the older wolf was working on some mission plans at home, she would spend hours going over every possibility and created back up plans for her back up plans. It was insane the amount of detail that Maria put into these missions. It certainly helped explain how the other woman became Deputy Director at such a young age.
Skye was currently in her bunk, trying desperately to get information on Vanchat and looking to see what she could do to connect him to Centipede. The majority of the time, Skye was able to ignore the nanny bracelet especially since whenever she had time off, Maria would always sneakily deactivate it.
However, right now? It was nothing more than a hindrance that making her lose her patience and her precious self control. Normally, the bus was extremely quiet and this was the most amount of people that Skye has been around since gaining full access to her abilities. People really did not realise how loud they were doing every day task.
It was a little irritating.
'Deep breaths Skye, you've got this.' Natasha voice floated into her head.
'I'm blocking the pack, how the hell are you in my head?' Skye snapped back, she really just wanted some peace and quiet right now so she could find Coulson!
'You're too angry to keep it from all of us. You're doing a good job blocking out May and Fitz but not so much for Maria, Bobbi and I. Alpha and Beta's are more in tune to what each member of the pack is feeling and Bobbi, well, Bobbi is your soulmate so that speaks for itself.' Natasha explained calmly, not taking Skye's tone to heart.
Skye huffed at Natasha's response and looked back at her laptop. 'I just need this stupid nanny bracelet off.'
'We can't take it off, or even deactivate it. Too many eyes looking at your team right now, and far too many looking at your nanny bracelet. We can't risk this until later. Maria is thinking of a way to get the bracelet off once Coulson is back without arousing too much suspicion.' Natasha attempted to sooth the youngest of her pack.
Skye grumbled, 'Well, if they aren't going to offer to take it...guess I'll just show them why it needs to come off.'
'Skye, don't piss off Hand. She's a bit...temperamental right now.'
'Why?' Skye demanded, 'she's been so pissed off at me for no reason! We've never spoke but she knows I' part of the pack so why is she treating me like shit right now?'
'She thinks you're corrupting Jemma, being a bit of a bad influence...but also thinks you're giving Jemma another reason to want to be with our pack more than her pack. She thinks she losing a pack member.' Natasha explained.
'Oh.' Skye didn't really know what to say to that. It made sense, and it also made sense why no one told her since her first instinct there was to back away from Jemma. Skye loves her pack and everyone in it, if she thought someone was going to leave the pack for someone else...well... she'd be pissed off as well.
'There's also the fact that she doesn't trust you professionally and thinks you're a liability and need to spend more time with the packs before you were sent into the field.' Natasha added.
'She's not wrong there.' Skye grumbled, 'it would have been nice to spend more time with the pack getting used to these abilities and the change itself.'
'We know, it's why Maria and Peggy haven't been trying to kick her ass for her attitude. She's in the right, but she's in the wrong for taking it out on you. You had no choice in this. I'll have Peggy speak to her again.'
'That would be nice, before some drastic happens. Still. We need to find Coulson. If she can't put behind pack politics then thats on her. I'm going to do what I can, even if it pisses everyone off.' Skye said, determined now as she pulled up Vanchat's finance history. She had avoided going into it knowing that she needed to do a full hack, which she couldn't do with the nanny bracelet.
'I guess I'll warn May then.' Natasha replied, a hint of amusement coming through the bond. 'Keep me or Maria updated please, Skye. Can't have anything happen to our favourite pup.'
Skye gave a snort before going back to her hack, knowing that it would affect many of their systems, with a smirk. It wasn't long until her door was flung open with two annoyed wolves looking at her and Skye flung them a look back.
She watched with interested as May bristled at the challenging look and she wondered what the outcome of her actions would be – if any. Natasha seemed to be on her side and she wondered if it would cause a split between the two soulmates.
"Just in time. Fancy overriding this to I can finish this?" Skye asked.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Hand snapped back, Ward and May were looking between the two, watching to see how this played out.
"The money trail's our key to finding Coulson. I just need to gain access to Vanchat's financials and from there I should be able to trace Centipede's payments and then hack into their account." Skye explained, trying to not get too frustrated.
"You're the consultant who shot Agent Sitwell." Hand replied instead of answering Skye's questions.
"That wasn't me and you know it." Skye snapped back. Jemma had done that all her own without Skye's influence. If Hand couldn't understand that, then maybe she didn't understand her pack as well as she thought.
"Tori. What are you doing." May muttered, keeping it low due to Ward's close proximity.
Hand didn't reply but continued to stare at Skye. "I want you off this plane. Effective immediately."
Skye reared back at that. "What?" her eyes flickered to May, who seemed to be concentrating on Hand. "You can't do that!"
"I'm in charge and I can do what I want. Right now? You are a distraction to my team. My team need to focus on tracking down Centipede and taking them down once and for all."
"And get Coulson back." Skye added, unknowingly echoing what Fitz and Simmons said earlier. Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say as she heard a low growl.
'Enough! All you! You are surrounded by unknown agents and acting like children. Pull it together!' Peggy snapped, loudly in their minds. Hand and May automatically stepped closer to the cubicle door to hide the pain in their faces. Skye flinched and automatically titled her neck to the side in submission.
There was a moment when everything paused and the three wolves stared at each other, acknowledging the alpha command.
"I said what I said." Hand spoke softly this time, "get off the plane. You'll be taken to debriefing and held at HQ until Coulson returns. He can then decide that to do with you." Hand turned and walked away form Skye's bunk, leaving three stunned agents.
Skye hurriedly chased after her, trying to change her mind. Even Ward tried to put in a good word for her to keep her on this place but eventually, it came down to May's opinion.
An opinion that stung.
"No. Skye is no use to us on this plane." May stated calmly, looking Hand straight in the eye.
And with that, Skye as kicked off her mobile home with her nanny bracelet restrictions increase and no phone or laptop. Thankfully, Ward and FitzSimmons managed to sneak her off the bus, giving her a phone that would allow one phone call without it shutting down.
She knew that she could track Coulson down, it was just a matter of how. She made a quick getaway from the bus and the hanger, deciding to go into the city to get more information. Maybe if she kept the nanny bracelet at a distance from the computers, it wouldn't effect it.
'Skye.' May's voice came as she stole a car.
'I don't want to talk to you.' She told the older wolf, focusing on getting out of the city and attempting to navigate to Rathman's house. Cheekily, she had taken a leather jacket and got a pair of aviation sunglasses to help with her new persona: Agent Melinda May.
If this was going to end in disaster, then any civilian that complains will be complaining about May. Small, petty victory.
'Pup.' The tone change. Skye pulled over to the side, she couldn't concentrate on driving if May was using that tone.
'What?'
'I didn't agree with Victoria kicking you off the plane because I thought you were worthless for this mission,' May started. 'I agreed to it because you weren't able to cope under the conditions on the bus. You would't be able to do your thing with everyone supervising you. You're best working outside the box, away from people who want to keep you on a short leash.'
Oh. Well now Skye felt bad for her disguise.
'Do what you need to do and find Coulson.'
'What about Hand.'
'She knows something is up. Jemma is a terrible liar and from what Fitz has been telling me, she's been keeping Victoria out of her head since the decision to kick you off the bus. The two seem to be having a falling out.'
Skye grimaced at that. This probably would not be helping her relationship with Hand.
'Nat says Hand is pissed at me because she thinks I'm trying to take Jemma. This probably doesn't help things.'
'No,' May agreed. 'It doesn't, but Victoria is a grown woman, she needs to learn to keep her private and professional life separate.'
'Cause we do such a good job of that.' Skye replied sarcastically, decided to use the sat nav system to locate him.
Lockdown screen. Damn it.
'We're doing a better job than her right now.'
Skye looked around the car and noticed the onboard assistance. Good thing she's got enhanced healing capabilities.
'I'm about to do something stupid,' she informed her mentor and putting the car back into drive.
'How stupid?' May asked suspiciously.
Skye sped the car up and slammed into a barrier. The seatbelt dug painfully against her chest and the slight cracking sound made Skye think her ribs were more bruised than broken. Should only take a few hours to heal.
'Skye!' Came several voices, all coated in concern.
'Very stupid.' Skye thought back with a grimace, making sure to include everyone in the pack.
'You just...crashed a car?' Bobbi asked, cautiously entering the conversation. 'Are you okay, do you need me to come get you? I don't care what Peggy or Maria are saying, say the word and I'll come get you.' Bobbi promised, letting love flow through their bond.
Skye smiled softly at her soulmates reaction, touched by the way Bobbi was ready to go to hell and back for her on her word.
'I'm fine Bobbi. I'm going to Lloyd Rathman house, some fancy business man, to use his details to start a hack into the finance stuff and get me a backdoor into Vanchat's finances. But since I couldn't use the satnav system, the onboard assistance should be able to tow me back to his house.' Skye explained, keeping it simple for everyone to follow along.
'If you say so babe. I'll be here if you need me.' Bobbi reassured her before leaving her mind, presumably going back to work.
'I hate to say it...but the kid is a fucking genius. That's something Peggy or Sharon would do.' Izzy said, joining the conversation with pride dripping from her thoughts. 'Anyone thought to check the kid to see if she's related to either of them?'
Skye smirked, feeling a bit more happy with the pack in her head and the reassurance that they were giving her.
'I have to agree, Skye, that was quick thinking. Well done.' May praised her. 'I need to go, keep your focus. Good luck.'
'You too.' Skye replied and felt everyone leave her head. It left a weird void. Skye shook her head and focused on her mission.
Thankfully her gamble paid off, she managed to get the information she needed (even after the set back of Rathman having no clue how a computer works). She found out that Centipede recently bought some land in the middle of the desert, it looked to be an old bombing town leftover from the Cold War.
Now all Skye had to do was call Jemma and let her know. She could just reach out to the pack, but they were avoiding using their connection during this time in case anyone checked the cameras. It would be suspicious if they somehow got a tip from Skye without actually contacting her.
"Hello" Jemma answered the phone.
"Jemma! It's me!"
"Dr. Nugent... what a lovely, surprise!" Jemma awkwardly replied.
Skye groaned, "oh God, is someone with you? Don't lie, you're so bad at it!"
"It's such a nice day, I've been...looking...forward to a, uh, catch...up?"
Skye wanted to drive into a pillar again if it meant not having to listen to Jemma lie. How on Earth have she and Fitz kept the wolf secret for so long?
"Do you remember our safe word?"
"Manscapping?" Jemma replied, confused. "Oh, probably should not have said that..."
"Skye."
Thank God May had the sense to take over the phone.
"May, thankfully someone who can hold a poker face." She could feel May's amusement through the bond.
"I think I've got a hit on where they may be keeping Coulson. They recently purchased a plot of land, not far from where you guys are now. It's an old bombing town that they never bombed, perfect place to kidnap someone and hid them form a spy agency."
"Send the co-ordinates, I'll deal with Hand." May ordered.
"Meet you there."
"Skye, do not go in with out us. Stay safe." May disconnected the phone after that.
Skye was so going to ignore those orders. What was the point in being an enhanced being if she couldn't go in, guns blazing to save someone she cared about? She pushed the car she was in (a freaking Lamborghini!) to the max as she sped toward the location.
It didn't take her long and she idly wondered if she would have been fasted running her in her wolf form. She quickly disregarded that thought. She wasn't fully grown yet, almost, but not quite. Nat and Maria seem to think she had another month before she'd done fully growing.
She quickly left the car, pausing to take note of her surroundings.
"This isn't creepy at all." She muttered, going up and glancing into on of the house with a frown.
"You're not supposed to be here." A menacing voice said.
Skye quickly turned around and dropped into a fighting position. She let a smirk grace her face and a low rumble exploded from her throat. She watched gleefully as the guy took a step back, fear washing over his face.
She made a move to attack him, super solider or not, surely Skye could beat the crap out of him with her enhanced abilities.
'Stop.' Came a command from Natasha. Skye froze with her first raised, a scowl firmly in place at the command. 'Turn around and run.'
Skye did as she was told without complaining, she pivoted on her foot and made a run for it. The guy hesitate for only a second before he was following her. He shouldn't have hesitate, if he didn't, he might not have been hit with a car.
'Tell them you are glad to see them and act like they just saved your ass. Now.' Natasha growled.
"Your timing is amazing, as always. Think I was about to become a bloody mess on the ground there." Skye forced out.
The three wolves gave her a weird look, but Ward looked happy to see her unharmed and thanking him.
'Don't let me catch you jeopardising our secret again. You do not use your abilities without permission unless it is life or death.' Natasha threatened before leaving Skye.
Skye almost dropped to her knees in relief. It was absolutely terrifying having Natasha speak to her like that as well as the hold she had on her. She had never really experienced the Alpha command, but that was something else. She couldn't fight against, she was helpless.
Skye didn't understand why she couldn't. She saw Maria fighting against commands before, struggling to follow Natasha's orders when she thought the other woman was wrong.
"Do you have any idea where Coulson is?" May asked, bringing Skye out of her thoughts. She looked over at the other wolf and shook her head.
"No, but he has to be here somewhere." Skye answered, her eyes flickering to the building where she can hear Raina asking Coulson questions and him struggling.
She didn't understand. They were sitting here wasting time to pretend that they were normal and that they couldn't hear where Coulson was for Ward's benefits. They should just be going!
"We'll need to split up?" Jemma said, looking at the rest of the team for confirmation.
"Best way to cover ground." Ward agreed and they turned as they hear another Centipede solider enter the area. Skye rolled her eyes as they pretended that they didn't hear that.
"I got this." Ward informed them.
"You sure?" May questioned.
"Yeah, go get Coulson."
With that, May took the group of wolves to where Coulson was whilst Ward handled the super solider.
"Skye are you alright?" Fitz asked, looking over at his pack mate.
"I'm fine." She dismissed, she really wasn't in the mood today.
"Skye-" May started but was cut off by the sound of Coulson screaming. Any concern that they had for Skye was put on the back burner as they raced towards Coulson's location.
Skye burst into the room to find Raina standing over Coulson, who was begging to die. Skye could barely hold in the anger and fear she felt at seeing him like this.
Raina froze when she saw Skye but quickly stood up, "It's for his own good."
Skye snarled at her before slamming her fist into Raina's face, watching satisfied as she dropped to the ground. She quickly ran her eyes over Raina to make sure that she was still alive and was surprised to see that she didn't look as hurt as Skye thought she would be.
'I reined in your abilities. I'm putting them back to what they were before we gave you full access until May tells me otherwise.' Natasha informed her, anger lining her words.
Skye scowled slightly before pushing it to the back of her mind as she went to Coulson's side. May had quickly followed her in with FitzSimmons and pulled the plug on the machine.
"Skye," Coulson whispered, looking in pain.
"It's okay, it's okay. I've got you." She soothed her team leader, she held him close and tried her hardest not to cry at the state he was in.
"I've alerted Hand as to where we are. ETA is 15 minutes." May informed them.
The team waited in silence together, watching Coulson carefully. Ward was outside tying up the Centipede soldiers. Skye still clung to Coulson, despite the looks she was getting from the other wolves. She could see the concern on Leo and Jemma's faces and the wariness on May's, but she couldn't bring herself to acknowledge their concerns, not right now at least. Maybe once they were back on the bus safe and sound.
The roaring of their plane sounded above them, all four of them automatically tilted their heads up despite not being able to see outside.
"I guess that's our ride" Coulson joked.
It had been an exhausting week. Skye was glad to have the bus back to normal, or at least, as normal as they could get after what just happened. It will the middle of the night, 2am to be exact, and she couldn't sleep. She had been tossing and turning all night but her head would just not switch off. The fact that all she could feel was static buzz when she reached out wasn't pleasant either.
Giving up on sleeping in her bunk, she pulled out her laptop and quickly set the cameras on a 5 minute loop. She sneakily made her way to May's room, looking to seek out the comfort of the older wolf. Her feelings has been all over the place and knew that May would be able to help sort her thoughts out.
On her trip to May's room, she passed by Jemma's bunk where Leo was curled up with her. She quickly stuck her head in the room and watched the two of them silently for a few seconds. Leo's face scrunched up, his nose twitching before his eyes opened, head snapping to see Skye and a snarl on his face.
The snarl quickly faded when he saw it was only Skye and tilted his head questioningly.
'Wanna join?' He asked. Skye could hear the sleepiness in his thoughts. It was cute.
She shook her head.
'Just wanted to make sure you two were okay.' She explained.
'Going to May's room?'
Skye nodded.
'Okay. Sleep well.' Leo mumbled into her head, going back to his previous position, nestling his head in the crook of Jemma's neck.
Skye smiled softly at them, glad that they had each other but it made her acknowledge the ache in her heart. She really missed Bobbi. After having those few weeks with her alone, Skye really missed her comforting presence, the feeling of someone always having your back no matter what.
Logically, she knew the pack will always have her back, but it felt different with Bobbi and she found it difficult to put into words. Skye carefully closed the door to her pack mates bunk and continued her journey, mentally calculating how long she had left in case she needed to increase her speed.
Skye didn't bother knocking before she gently opened May's door. The older wolf always had a sixth sense for when Skye would visit and her door opened easily. Skye padded towards the bed, stripping out of the jumper and slippers that she had put on for her journey, and slid into the bed next to May.
"I was expecting that you'd be here shortly after midnight, not 2am." May grouched, but she rolled over and pulled Skye into her arms.
Skye snuggled in close to her mentor, her body instantly relaxing at the contact. Her fingers gently curled around May's top and she found herself clinging to the older wolf as she was suddenly overcame with emotion. She couldn't hold back and soon found herself sobbing into May's arms.
"It's okay." May soothed. "Let it out, it's been a touch week, huh?"
Skye nodded weakly against her chest, unable to stop the sobs that left her. May shuffled them around so that she was sitting against the headboard and Skye was curled up in her lap.
'Skye..?' Came the groggy thoughts of Bobbi. 'You okay?'
Skye tried to send reassurance to her mate but was unable to. She was pretty sure she ended up sending Bobbi some distress and neediness.
'May.' Bobbi sounded much more alert this time. 'Somethings wrong with Skye. Can you get her?'
'I've got her Bobbi. She's in my arms. I think it's just been an overwhelming week.' May reassured the other wolf.
There was a pause.
'I'm coming to visit.' Bobbi decided, Skye could feel her mate moving around in her room and packing stuff up.
'Bobbi-' May warned
'No. I don't care. Skye's been acting out of it all day! She's been hyper aggressive, moody and careless. Do you know what these are signs of, Mel? Long Term Soulmate Separation!' Bobbi snapped. 'It also didn't help with the way Victoria was treating her the past few days. If she think I'm not gonna beat the crap out of her the new time I see her, she's got another thing coming.'
'Calm down now.' Natasha commanded, once again entering Skye's mind in with the domineering Alpha personality.
Skye whimpered and shoved her face into May's neck, once again tilting her neck for the other wolf. May frown softly at Skye and cupped her face.
'This must be your first time handling Natasha being an Alpha.' May nuzzled the top of Skye's head, doing her best to help the younger wolf through the command.
Skye shook her head. It technically wasn't her first time, the first time was earlier today when she was ready to beat the crap out of that super solider.
'We'll count it as one time since it's happened all within one day,' May thought after viewing Skye's memories. She couldn't fault her mate for protecting their secret.
'And she got Natasha being all Alpha on her for the first time and I wasn't there to support her.' Bobbi grumbled, but sounded much calmer this time.
'Skye needed to learn.' Natasha explained. 'I couldn't let her use her abilities like that when the team was so close by. Especially since the majority of people don't think Skye has combat training. It would have cast massive amounts of suspicion on her.'
'I know.' Bobbi sighed. Skye felt Bobbi's restlessness, the way she was pacing around her room, hands flexing.
'I got your batons.' Maria announced tiredly as she joined the conversation. Skye peered into Bobbi's mind to get a view of the Beta.
Maria looked exhausted, but still smiling softly at Bobbi as she held out the other wolf's battle staves. Maria was still wearing combat clothes and a duffle bag was slung over her shoulder. She was still covered in bruises, which worried Skye. Either Maria was ingesting so much silver that she was unable to heal properly or she was so exhausted that her body was too busy keeping itself running to heal itself.
Skye sent some concerned thoughts Maria's way and it seemed like she wasn't the only one concerned with the Beta's appearance.
'Shit, Hill. What happened to you?' Bobbi asked softly, her eyes taking in her appearance.
'Stuff.' Maria replied vaguely, pushing the batons into Bobbi's hands.
'Maria...' Bobbi sounded unsure and was hesitant.
'You two should cuddle.' Skye told them, watching the way the both seemed to exert the same tiredness. Maybe they do. Both woman spent a lot of time away from their soulmate. With how good Sharon was at undercover, she was away from Maria for the majority of the year and Bobbi had only just met Skye and the two of them have spent a grand total of three weeks together, with only one of them being alone.
It was enough to take a toll on anyone.
Skye's prompting seemed to be the only thing the two woman wanted to her. As soon as she gave her blessing, both wolves hurriedly stripped and clashed together. Skye watched with interested as Maria seemed to take instant control, surprising the rest of them, and shoved Bobbi onto the bed.
'We should leave them to it. Let Maria do her Beta duties.' Natasha said, cutting off Bobbi and Maria from everyone else to give them privacy.
'Is it only them at base?' May questioned.
'Everyone is out on missions at the moment. Something is up with Maria and Peggy. The two of them are extremely secretive right now and won't let anyone in half the time.' Natasha sighed.
Skye lay curled up against May as she listened to the two of them talk and discuss details about the pack and how their week has been. Whilst she never got to discuss her thoughts, she got the comfort that she was looking for and that would do her for now. May's hand was running through her hair, gently scrapping against herself, lulling her to sleep. Skye only lasted half an hour before she fell asleep, feeling much better than before. Her last thought before drifting off was that she wished it could be like this all the time.