Skye sat numbly on the edge of her cot, the Bus's engines a dull roar in the background of her consciousness as she turned the folded piece of paper over and over again in her hands.

Skye, it had said on the front, and she hadn't known what to make of it at first, except that Raina had clearly expected SHIELD to come. Then Hunter had unfolded the paper experimentally, and through his camera she'd caught a glimpse of more writing on the inside. Hunter had had the decency to fold it back up quickly, murmuring, "I'll let you have the first look at this."

The heavy thudding of her heart, arising from a mixture of trepidation and curiosity, had made her fingers tremble on the keys as she tried to figure out the maze of the sewer system.

It was hopeless, though, from where they were, with the resources they had on the Bus. There were too many possible routes Raina could have taken, too many branches off the main lines of the sewer. They would need to comb satellite surveillance of every possible outlet from the time they'd seen her on the surveillance video until...well, until they found her. That could be managed much better by the team of analysts who were still at the Playground than by Skye all by her lonesome.

So they had cleared the rest of the hotel as best they could without the staff getting wise, left the aerial camera in place, and gotten back on the Bus to head home. When Hunter had come in for takeoff, he'd handed Raina's note to Skye.

Over and over she now turned it in her hands, as though the motion would help her make sense of it. With a sigh, she unfolded it again, her eyes tracing over the words she had already memorized after reading them the first ten times.

Skye,

I know you've changed, and I'm sure you must be full of questions. I know where to find the answers you're seeking.

You belong with your own people, Skye: those who understand this incredible gift you've been given. SHIELD will never understand you now. You've transcended them; you are beyond their comprehension. But come with us, and you'll discover your family, your identity, your destiny.

You see how easy it was to find me, when I made myself known. Make yourself known, Skye, and they will find you.

Raina

May appeared in the doorway after the Bus touched down. She nodded crisply at Hunter, who stood up from the fold-down seat, casting a backward glance at Skye before walking out the Cage. They hadn't spoken on the way back, wrapped up in her thoughts as she was.

Skye lifted her eyes from the note in her hands to Agent May, whose expression bore the faint softness that signified concern for her protégée.

"Coulson should probably have this," Skye said, holding the note out to May.

May didn't move to take it, but looked at her with compassionate eyes. "I'll have him come see you after he's finished with Hunter," she said quietly.

Skye took a deep breath to subdue the dismay that shot through her at May's words. "What are they going to do?"

May pressed her lips together grimly. "Coulson and Koenig are going to figure out how much he knew and whether he can still be trusted."

Skye nodded, suddenly feeling weak. The emotional strain of the day was taking its toll.

"Are you holding up okay?" May asked gently.

"Yeah," Skye lied. "I'm fine."

May studied her with a piercing gaze, but let it go. "Simmons and I will be keeping an eye on you in between inventory and everything else. Let us know if you need anything."

Skye nodded.

"You did well today," the older agent added softly. "It was good to have you back in the field."

Skye smiled. "It was good to be there." Or at least close to it.

May smiled faintly and closed the door.

Skye slumped back against the wall, drawing a heavy breath. Her emotions, closer to the surface now since her breakdown, were beginning to feel overwhelming again, like a cacophony of insistent voices all vying for her attention. She felt pulled so strongly in a hundred directions that something was bound to snap.

And abruptly it did. Almost without thinking, Skye leapt up, crossed the room to her laptop, and began pulling up security camera feeds. She had to see with her own eyes whether Lance Hunter was a traitor. At least then some of her uncertainty would be resolved.

Somewhere in her subconscious, a little voice reminded her that she probably shouldn't be spying on the Director as he questioned a possible turncoat. But her native disdain for convention and her compulsive need for answers won out.

Skye cycled rapidly through hallway security cameras until she located Koenig, Coulson, and Hunter in an obscure hallway that she didn't think she'd ever been down. The men took a left turn down another hall, and Skye quickly cycled through the cameras until she located them again. In this way, she tracked them until they entered a room which - Skye could just barely make out after zooming in the camera - bore the number 424. She searched the directory and discovered one camera labeled 424 - Interrogation Room.

Interrogation Room? That wasn't the interrogation room. They had another space for conducting interrogations, the one Bobbi had used with Bakshi.

But it made more sense once Skye pulled up the video feed. There, next to Koenig, who was gesturing grandiosely with both hands, was a familiar machine, which Skye had thought they'd left behind forever at Providence. She still remembered sitting on that padded seat, cold metal and weird sensors around her head and hands, her palms sweating as she tried desperately not to say anything that might be taken as subversive.

It made sense that Fury would have had more than one made.

Ahh. "Interrogation Room" makes more sense now.

Skye noticed a small microphone adjacent to the readout screens. Apparently, they were recording this session. It was an easy task to find the stream and pull it up, and Hunter's voice filled the Cage, synched nicely with the video.

"A lie detector?" he was asking, as he glanced skeptically from Koenig to Coulson. "You do realize I know how to beat a polygraph, right?"

Koenig rubbed his hands together in what seemed to approach glee. "Not just any lie detector," he corrected. "This is the lie detector, Agent Hunter. This baby measures galvanic skin response, oxygen consumption, microexpressions, biofeedback, brain waves, pupil dilation, voice biometrics - 96 variables in all. Fury designed this himself. He wanted a lie detector Romanoff couldn't beat."

Skye raised an eyebrow. That speech sounded familiar.

Coulson was peering at Koenig with a peculiar expression on his face. "Did you...rehearse that?"

Koenig blinked at him. "No. Why?"

Coulson blinked back, studying Koenig as if something had just occurred to him.

Hunter raised an eyebrow, glancing blankly back and forth between the two men. He shrugged and broke the silence. "All right, then. Let's get to it." He bent down and began to untie his shoes, and Coulson and Koenig turned to blink at him instead of at one another.

Hunter glanced up, noticing their bemused expressions. "Look, I know how this works," he explained shortly. "I want you to be confident I'm not pulling any tricks." He pulled off his shoes and socks. "No thumbtacks in my shoes, nothing under my fingernails. Go on, take a look." He extended his hands toward Koenig, who glanced at Coulson before inspecting them.

Hunter waited patiently, then nodded toward the lie detector. "I'm assuming that thing reads jaw movements, so you know I'm not biting my tongue to throw off the readings."

Koenig arched an incredulous eyebrow at him. "Of course."

Hunter had a small grin. "Good. Then let's get started."

"Full name?"

"Lance Hunter."

"Eye color?"

"Brown."

Dark brown, Skye thought absently.

"Please list your immediate family."

"Mum; one sister."

"Have you ever been married?"

Hunter narrowed his eyes at Koenig sardonically. "Yes. Once."

"What's the difference between an egg and a rock?"

Hunter's forehead crinkled in thought. "An egg is fragile; a rock isn't."

"You wash up on a deserted island alone. Sitting on the sand is a box. What is in that box?"

"Is the island tropical?"

"Just say the first answer that comes into your mind. What is in that box?"

"Sunscreen and a case of beer."

Skye rolled her eyes.

Koenig hummed, making a note. "Agent Hunter, General Talbot is no longer pursuing you, and you have no apparent reason for maintaining loyalty to SHIELD. Why are you still here?"

Hunter paused for a moment, taking a deep breath and looking briefly at Coulson before answering. "Because, for once, I don't feel like someone's playing me."

Coulson glanced at Hunter sharply, then looked at Koenig, who was studying the machine's output. Koenig looked up at him and nodded.

"What is the current nature of your relationship with Agent Morse?" Coulson began in a steely tone.

"Nonexistent."

A surprised look flickered across Coulson's face. "Do you know of a way to contact her?"

"No, I do not."

"Did she leave you with orders or directives to complete in her absence?"

The corners of Hunter's mouth quirked up bitterly. "She told me not to die out there."

"Anything else?"

"No."

Coulson paused, as if reformulating his strategy. "You were romantically involved with her, is that correct?"

"On and off for five years, sir."

"When did that relationship end?"

"Last night."

"And what were the circumstances of it ending?"

"She told me there was something she was keeping from me. I broke it off."

Skye blinked. Hunter hadn't mentioned that part.

Coulson frowned. "Were you aware of Agents Morse and Mackenzie's plan to leave this organization?"

Hunter met his gaze steadily. "No, sir, I was not."

Coulson glanced at Koenig for confirmation. At Koenig's nod, Skye released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

Coulson continued. "You said you weren't surprised by their departure. Why is that?"

Hunter hesitated. "Bobbi had spoken to me on several occasions about her reservations regarding your leadership of SHIELD. She hinted last night that she would be doing something to break away from it. I didn't know anything about the extent or timing of her plans. But I know her and what she's capable of. I think what she's done is bloody foolish, but I'm not surprised she's done it."

Coulson's expression was impassive, but Skye could tell from the creases around his eyes that he was troubled. "What were her reservations?" he asked evenly.

Hunter's response was frank. "She felt that you were too emotionally invested in your team, particularly in Skye, and might not be able to make a difficult call when it became necessary. She thought the resources and manpower being expended on Skye were excessive."

Skye's breath hitched, and a shock of anxiety twisted her stomach as she heard Hunter articulate the very thought that had been troubling her for weeks.

But he was still talking. "Bobbi also disagreed with your priorities in San Juan of preventing any civilian casualties and destroying the Obelisk. She's of the opinion that powerful weapons ought to be retained, to give SHIELD an edge over Hydra."

Coulson's gaze was probing. "Did you agree with her reservations?"

Hunter raised his eyebrows ironically. "If I had agreed with her, I probably wouldn't be here."

Koenig interjected. "Answer the question simply, please. Did you agree with Agent Morse's assessment of Director Coulson?"

"I did not. And I told her as much."

Skye suddenly felt a lump in her throat, and she wasn't entirely sure why.

Coulson was tapping his fingers thoughtfully.

"What do you think her plan is now?"

Hunter looked at Coulson steadily. "As I said earlier, as far as I know, Bobbi's committed to SHIELD. But it's Nick Fury's SHIELD, not this one. She's committed to taking down Hydra. She'll just go about it in her own way."

Coulson's fingers were still tapping. "Why do you think she never brought you in on her plans?"

Hunter's jaw tightened, and his voice was flat. "Possibly because I didn't respond well when she tried to feel me out. Maybe because she never intended to bring me in on it at all."

Coulson frowned. "Why would she have vouched for you to join SHIELD if she were planning on leaving?"

Hunter shrugged. "I don't know."

Coulson glanced at Koenig, who nodded.

Hunter saw the exchange and elaborated. "It could be that her plans weren't made until after I came along. It could be that she wanted me around in case a firefight broke out, expecting that I'd have her back."

"Would you have?" Coulson's eyes bored into Hunter's, his face grim.

Skye found herself holding her breath again.

Hunter broke eye contact, blinking. "I don't know," he said quietly. "If Bobbi were in danger, I'd probably defend her."

Coulson's tone was icy. "And if she weren't in danger? If she were attempting to leave and I ordered you to stop her?"

"I'd like to think I'd do the right thing."

"Which would be what, exactly?"

Hunter heaved a gusty sigh, and the words came out heavily. "I'd stop her. I don't think I could kill her if you asked me to. But I'd stop her."

Coulson nodded with cautious satisfaction, still studying Hunter with piercing eyes. "I wouldn't order you to take her out unless she gave me no other choice," he clarified. "Hopefully, that will be a bridge we don't have to cross. Do you have any idea what her agenda is from this point forward?"

Hunter shook his head. "No. But I'll tell you this - if you have actionable intelligence that you've hesitated to act on, she won't. So I'd be ready for that."

Coulson absorbed the warning, a troubled expression flickering across his face.

Coulson was at his desk, massaging his temples, when May silently entered the room. She approached the desk slowly, purposefully scuffing her feet on the floor to alert him to her presence.

"I knew you were there," he said lightly, lowering his hands to give her a tight smile.

"Sure you did," May replied, with a knowing smile of her own. She folded herself gracefully into a chair, not noticing the way Coulson's eyes lingered on her. "How did it go?" she asked quietly, looking back up at him.

"Hunter's clean," Coulson replied shortly. "I sent him off to help Fitzsimmons with inventory."

May pressed her lips together. "Tough break for him." Her eyes searched Coulson's, and Coulson nodded at the double meaning - both inventory and Bobbi's betrayal were tough breaks. "Do you think his loyalty is secure?"

"It seems to be," the Director replied with a sigh. "Though how it got to be that way, I have to admit I'm mystified."

A faint, proud smile just touched May's lips. "You have a way of inspiring loyalty," she said quietly.

"From some," Coulson qualified grimly. "Not from all."

May tilted her head, studying him. "Did Hunter say what he thought Bobbi might be up to?"

Coulson fiddled with his pen, unscrewing the bottom section from the top and then putting it back together. May recognized it as an anxious tic. "He warned me that if we had actionable intelligence we haven't acted on, she wouldn't hesitate to do so."

May's eyes widened just slightly. Coulson nodded, holding her gaze steadily.

"Well," she replied softly. "This could become interesting."

Coulson nodded again. "It could."

May watched him fiddle with the pen for a little while longer before she spoke. "Skye wanted to see you. She wants to give you Raina's note."

"Have you read it?" he asked, looking up to meet her gaze.

May shook her head. "No. But it seems to have upset her."

Coulson sighed, rubbing his temple with one hand. "Just what I need. First Bobbi, now Raina has to show up and make things more complicated." He closed his eyes. "Fury didn't get paid enough for this job."

May's lips twisted in a wry smile. "Good thing you're not doing it for the money."

Coulson chuckled almost in spite of himself, flashing her a weak grin. "What would I do without you?"

May's smile was smug. "Probably go crawling off to Stark looking for an easier job."

Coulson's eyes widened. "That would be an interesting conversation."

"I heard Raina left something for you," Coulson opened mildly as he came into the Cage. He closed the door behind him.

Skye nodded to the space next to her on the cot, and Coulson came over to sit down heavily beside her. She silently handed him the folded piece of paper.

Coulson unfolded and read it, his forehead creasing. When he finished, he folded it back up and turned to look steadily at Skye.

"What do you think about this?" he asked neutrally, indicating the note.

Skye stiffened. "Are you kidding me?" she blurted out, blinking incredulously.

"Well, I don't know. It sounds like a pretty good deal. Family, identity, destiny?" Coulson studied her, a trace of real concern beneath his flippancy.

Skye shook her head vehemently, her eyes sparking. "There is no way in hell I'm going anywhere with Raina," she informed him flatly. "I don't care what she knows. I don't care if she knows the winning lottery numbers. I literally don't trust her as far as I could throw her."

Coulson grimaced understandingly. Then, "Skye," he said in a quiet voice, "you know we may never be able to find all of the answers you're looking for. Some of them we have. Some of them we will. But we may never know everything you want to know." He studied her again, this time all real concern, sans flippancy.

"I don't care," Skye repeated stubbornly. "I'm not going anywhere."

Coulson had the sense that she was only half talking to him, half perhaps to Raina or her own heart. But still, his relief was nearly palpable. "I'm glad to hear that," he said quietly. "We would miss you around here."

Skye nodded, her eyes welling up. "Me too."

They looked at each other for a tender moment.

"Hunter's clean," Coulson said, breaking the silence. "He'll be back on the schedule at his regularly appointed times."

"Oh - good," Skye said vaguely, as though she'd forgotten all about it. Coulson supposed she had a lot of other things to think about.

"Also -" Coulson seemed to hesitate. "I know we've been having you focus on learning to control the vibrations, but I need someone to take point again on tracking down whoever's been ambushing SHIELD teams. I had Bobbi working on it in your absence."

Skye's answering smile was more enthusiastic. "I think I can find time in my schedule," she quipped wryly.

"Good." Coulson smiled. "Let Simmons or May know if there's anything you need for that." He stood up. "I should go touch base with Koenig. We're still getting reports in from our teams. It seems like everybody's missing something." He caught Skye's frown. "Yeah. Apparently Bobbi was thorough."

Coulson sighed, and his composed exterior momentarily cracked, giving Skye a glimpse of the strain and pressure beneath it. "Thank you," she said quietly, "for letting me help."

He smiled tightly. "What do you want me to do with this?" he asked, holding Raina's note out to her.

Skye waved her hand dismissively. "Whatever. Burn it. I don't care."

Coulson's eyes twinkled. "Waste not, want not." He paused, scrutinizing her carefully. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah," she replied dully.

As the lock on the door scraped shut and the walls began to close back in around her, she wished she could say that with more conviction.

A/N: All the credit for Koenig's speech about the lie detector goes to the writer of "The Only Light in the Darkness" from Season 1. ;)

Lance Hunter, you have officially been initiated. Also, that scene with May and Coulson came out a little more Philinda than I expected, but I like it.

For the reviewer who asked about ships: I am a big fan of Fitzsimmons and I really enjoy Philinda, but I could be content with either or both of those remaining platonic. I do like to hint at them in my writing. I am a shade too attached to Skyelance and often have to pause to remind myself that it may never happen. I've been a Clintasha shipper since Avengers but would trade it in a heartbeat for Hawkingbird and Skyelance. ;)