Skye was met with a flurry of blows. She evaded each one, blocking and parrying, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. When it came, she did not hesitate. Her opponent landed heavily on his right foot, shifting his centre of gravity to the side. She feigned to his left, before slipping to his right, slamming her foot on the back of his knee. The man crumpled, all his weight giving way as he tumbled to the floor.

Skye grinned, leaning over Tripp, as he groaned from the floor. She reached out her hand, and fell as he pulled her down with him, laughing as he did.

'Girl, when Tasha signed up for your S.O, I didn't think you would get this good, this fast!'

Skye chuckled as she lay beside him on the training mats, out of breath.

'Clearly, or you wouldn't have been holding back'

The man chuckled, as he raised his hands in mock defence,

'You got me there; you just look so innocent and fragile.'

'Innocent! I just dropped you on your ass!'

He grinned as he stood up, pulling Skye with him.

'Two outta three?'

Skye quickly showered, rushing to the dining area before there was no food left. Living with two super soldiers and a god often meant finding no food if you were late. When she got there, everyone was already at the table, except for Natasha, who was in DC. She took her seat and piled food onto her plate, before turning to Fitz and Tony.

'What are you two planning?' she asked, having noticed the whispers and subtle glances.

Fitz looked like a deer caught in headlights.

'N-Nothing, Skye. Why- why do you ask?'

I rolled my eyes at Fitz and turned to Tony,

'You know I could hack into Jarvis and give him a voice like from the film with the singing chipmunks'

Tony's eyes narrowed,

'You wouldn't dare.'

Skye raised her eyebrows as if to say, try me. Tony sighed and in a resigned voice, said

'We were making plans, for a robot.. A robot monkey.'

Skye burst out laughing, causing everyone to look at her in surprise. At this point she was in tears, clutching her stomach from laughing too hard. Everyone was grinning, having not heard her laugh so hard since ward... since whatever Tasha had told her the day they arrived. After a few minutes, when she was done crying, and they were all finished eating, Coulson called,

'Tasha's starting the press conference at congress.'

Everyone turned to the massive TV in the living room (everything had been improved since Stark got here) and watched as congress grilled Tasha. Skye watched worried as she grew ever more agitated. Knowing Tasha was gunna burst out in anger, Skye turned to Coulson and asked

'hey, do you think it's time we came out of the shadows?'

Coulson grinned, knowing what Skye was planning, and nodded. She grabbed her laptop and hacked into the feed from the live cameras. From there, she was able to gain access to their online servers, and through that, the screens at congress. Turning on her webcam, Skye heard one of the officials speaking, asking Natasha where her loyalties lie. Skye cleared her throat and laughed at the looks of shock on the members of congress' faces.

'Hey, sorry for commandeering your screens, just wanted to ask Tasha a few questions, you know, to finish up a mission report,' Skye said, without any attempt to hide the blatant lie.

Skye heard their shouts of indignation as she looked toward Tasha.

'So Tasha, remember that school me and you saved with the hundreds of children being held hostage by a hydra cell with bombs, how long did it take for us to eliminate the threat?'

Natasha grinned, realising what Skye was up to.

'If I remember correctly, and I always do, 7 minutes 14 seconds.'

Skye nodded, as if looking thoughtful.

'And how long did it take for the CIA to arrive to the school?'

'49 minutes'

'Right, and just how many children did we save? Wasn't it about 700?'

Natasha nodded, smiling.

Turning to congress Skye said 'I think I speak for Tasha when I say, our loyalties aren't with the government, or our country, because when aliens attach they don't see borders. We are loyal to those children; we are loyal to the people in need, those who can't defend their selves from the crap that we deal with. I used to be rising tide, we believed in freedom of information, and so you are free to do what you will with this information; Shield's alive and kicking, you can take us down from every angle but we will always come back again, because you can be damn sure Hydra will too, and we will be there, the shield protecting you, from a bunch of psychotic Nazis that don't know how to die.'

At congress, there were cheers from the press and public as Skye closed the connection.

'Who was she? Was that planned?' the senator asked Natasha from the stands.

'She, is Skye, my protégé of sorts, and I have to say is almost as good as cap at the unplanned motivational speeches. That was quite something.'

A collection of sighs was heard from congress, before someone said Tasha could leave. Just as she reached the doors, she called over her shoulder,

'Be warned, she will hack your Facebook page.'

'Skye, what the hell was that?'

Tasha heard a chuckle down the phone,

'I'm serious Skye, you could get arrested, they could make you a fugitive!'

'Tasha I'm already a fugitive, we all are. Hell, the shit I've done, they've been looking for me since I was 16.'

Skye heard a sigh from Natasha.

'Point taken. Do I even what to know?'

'Probably not'

'Good speech by the way, I particularly liked the part about psychotic Nazis'

Skye chuckles again as she clicks of her phone.

Natasha walked into the kitchen and got a surprise. Thor and Skye stood in aprons, Thor in a pink flowery one, dancing together to the radio, making cookie dough. Natasha whipped out her phone and started filming, grinning. Once they had noticed her, Thor shoved a cupcake in her mouth and Skye exclaimed,

'We've been baking!'

Using what Skye had taught her, she posted the video onto YouTube, but making it untraceable to the Playground, captioning it 'how did she even scare congress?'

Skye pulled Tasha to the living room, where everyone else was, watching a movie about zombies.

'Come on, grab the crossbow, it's right there!'

'No, use the knives, you won't run out of ammo.'

'Are you kidding? That only limits it to close combat! Do you want to get killed?'

Natasha laughed as she watched the agents and avengers watch the movie with critical eyes. It was hilarious; they went through worse every weekend. These movies never got it right.

Skye snuggled next to Natasha on the sofa, nibbling on a cookie.

'Hey, I never got to thank you earlier; things at congress were taking a turn for the worse before you showed up.'

'Hey it's no big deal, Tasha; I don't plan on loosing another S.O.'

Tasha smiled as Skye looked down at her phone.

'Hey, Avengers, Shield and Congress are trending on twitter, that's coo- OH NO YOU DID NOT POST THAT NATASHA ROMANOV!'

Tasha ducked to avoid a sofa cushion being thrown at her head.

'PILLOW FIGHT' Tony yelled.

The next hour was spent by everyone being hit by pillows by master assassins and superheroes alike.

'Hey guys, we got a possible 084 in Illinois that we need to get on.'

'Coulson, shouldn't we wait till the Avengers get back?' Simmons queried.

'We need to get the 084 now, before other interested parties get to it. Skye here's the specks; it's in a museum just south of Chicago. Now, the museum defences are pretty advanced, and we don't have enough time to hack in the front before the guards see us. We have one way in, one way out. It's a small crawlspace, a vent on the Southside wall, 1st floor. May has to keep the bus running as we can't land, so Skye you have to go in, you're the only one small enough with field training, you up for it?'

Grinning, Skye says,

'When do we start boss?'

Skye shimmied through the vent ignoring the feeling of the walls closing in. just as she reached the end and was about to swing out, she heard,

'Wait!'

Skye stilled, not making a sound. She heard the soft tread of one of the night guards walk past the vent opening. She waited till she heard the footsteps receding. Skye let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

'Skye, we are still a fugitive organisation, so you can't be seen. We can't risk hurting civilians, not even with an icer. Avoid the guards.'

Skye grunted an affirmative as she swung down from the vent, just like she had seen Clint do a thousand times. Skye allowed herself a small smile of pride before she cleared her face, back to agent mode.

She followed Simmons' directions through the earpiece till she reached the archaeology section of the museum. She searched the room before she found it. It was a small box, with archaic symbols carved on it. It looked sinister and suddenly she was glad the researchers at the museum hadn't finished translating the box before opening it. Who knows what would happen.

She cautiously lifted the box into the container in her back pack, as she did, a piercing alarm sounded around her.

'Shit.' She muttered to herself as she loaded the 084 and fled back to the vent.

'Skye, what's happening? I thought you disabled the alarms?'

'I did,' exclaimed Skye as she ran through the halls, 'there must have been touch sensors wired through a different system. It doesn't matter, I have the 084.'

Now the backpack was full, she had to wrap the straps around her legs and pull it along behind her. Just as she reached the end she stopped.

'Damn it, Skye, make it harder for yourself, why don't you?'

She had gone through the vent head first, in her haste to get out. Now she was facing a 15 foot drop head first. Not wanting to damage the 084 in the fall and unleashing god knows what; she untangled her legs from the bag and pushed herself out the vent. Twisting through the air, she managed to land on her front; as she hit the ground she rolled to minimalize the impact. It must have made a racket because before she could retrieve the 084, she heard a shout from one of the police cars. Shit.

'Sir, you know that thing about not hurting civilians, do cops count?'

'Shit Skye yes, can you get away?'

'No, the place is surrounded.'

'Don't let them get the 084. Go with them, we can get you out of jail when the Avengers come back from their mission. It might take a week or two to break you out. You know protocol, become someone else. Skye doesn't exist. As far as you know, Shield is a terrorist organisation. Do not give anything away. We're coming for you.'

'The 084 is at the entrance of the vent, get Trip to come once the cops are gone. Tell Nat not to worry, this isn't my first time in jail.'

Just as she picked herself up, a cop came running round the corner.

'Lemme guess, put my hands up where you can see them, right?'

'I already told you, I didn't take anything. The alarm went off before I could take anything. I was spooked so I ran before I could get caught by any guards, not that it did much good.'

'Even without theft charges, you are being charged with trespassing, and possession of unregistered guns and knives. You refused to give a name, so we scanned your fingerprints. You wanna know what we found on our files? Nothing. Not even a name. That's awfully suspicious. But you wanna know something about every police station in America? We keep hard copies, of every case going back 40 years, in a facility in DC. It didn't take long to find your file. And wow, it's been a long time since anyone's heard hide or hair of you, Mary Sue Poots.'

Skye rolled her eyes.

'Do you ever get tired of your own voice? Because I sure am. Can't you send me to jail already so I can get away from your voice?'

Skye felt a slap across her face but only smirked; she had taken a lot worse.

'You are facing charges for murdering two of your many (the sleazy police officer stressed the many) foster parents, ten years ago. I would watch the attitude, or a slap won't be the all you get, you bitch.'

The rest of the day blurred by, Skye's thoughts consumed with a day ten years ago, the day that had landed her with those charges.

In a van parked not far away, Coulson's team sat in silence. Having hacked into the camera feeds, because they could do nothing else, they had all heard the charges.

'You.. You don't think its true do you? You don't think she…?' Fitz rambled, unsure what to do.

'Of course not Fitz, they called her Mary Sue Poots, that's not her name.'

'But is it? We've always known Skye might be a fake name. We can't know.'

They all drew silent after that. Not sure what to say as they saw Skye being taken back to her cell.

The next day, Skye was taken to the prison. It was a large, mixed gender compound. The walls were painted a dull grey, as if by just being in the halls, your life was being sucked away. She went through the strip search, her warden whistling at the sight of the 2 scars littering her abdomen. She didn't say anything, just waited for the search to be over. They found about 20 knives hidden on her person, which she chose to ignore as the warden stared in disbelief. Keeping a stoic face, she was given an orange jumpsuit, and once she was changed, she was handed over to a male warden and taken to one of the cells. As she entered, she noticed 5 other women lazing on bunks.

'Hey, we've got a newbie!'

'What's your name, sweetheart?'

'I call dibs.'

'Settle down ladies, I'm sure you will be kind enough to show…,' the warden looked at Skye in question.

'Natalie.'

'Right, well I'm sure you will show Natalie around, wouldn't want her getting lost now, would we?' he said with a malicious glint in his eye. He then left the cell, retreating to the walls as he stalked around the room.

'So, what do you kids do for fun around here?'

At dinner that day, Skye or Natalie, walked into the food hall, eyes turned to her. A few cat calls rung out as Skye realised half the room was filled with men. It was the first time she had encountered any of the male occupants of the prison. Ignoring the lewd comments as she walked through the hall, she went up to grab her food. As she turned, she raised her eyes, searching for a seat.

Suddenly, her heart stopped. Recognition flared in her brain as she saw the dark brunet with a short beard, sitting alone at a table.

Skye let the food slide of her tray, as she stalked towards him. He had yet to raise his head from his food. Tray in hand, she swung, slamming it into his jaw.

Surprised, he dropped to the floor like a dead weight. Letting out a strangled cry, he shouted,

'What the fu- shit'

Skye kicked him, screaming. Everyone was watching.

She was momentarily distracted by the movement of guards running, enough time for Ward to be up on his feet.

'Skye' he moaned quietly.

'it's Natalie,' Skye hissed before jabbing him in the stomach.

He rolled to the side, dodging her blow. But Skye was quick. She jumped up on the table Ward had been sat at before and flipped over him, kicking him in the back of the head. Again, ward dropped, taking longer to recover. Skye didn't let him. She straddled his chest and started punching his face. She felt herself being dragged away from him, but she brought her elbow back into a guards face. He dropped to the ground. She ran back to ward and screamed at him,

'I trusted you, bastard. We all did. How could you do that to Fitzsimmons?'

Skye punched him again and again until he lost consciousness. She sagged to the floor as she felt the weight of her emotions. She let herself be dragged away, not even noticing the onlookers shocked faces.

Skye spent the next two days in solitary. It would have been longer if ward hadn't been a traitor. When she was finally released, the guard looked at her warily, before motioning for her to walk. At least people wouldn't mess with her. When she was returned, the young guard practically ran away. Silence filled the room as she walked in. she flung herself on her bed and stared at the bed above her. No one said anything for a couple of minutes before someone cleared their throat. Skye sat up and turned to face 5 women, staring intently at her.

'What?' Skye sighed.

'Umm so… you know grant ward?'

'I don't think I knew him at all really, the traitor.'

'We've seen him fight before, did he teach you?'

Skye snorted, 'he tried to.'

'Are you a spy?.'

Skye looked at them before saying

'I wouldn't be a very good spy if I told you, would I.'

'Why are you in prison?'

'Oh you know, saw Orange is the New Black, thought I would give it a try'

None of them knew what to say to that.

The bell ran for lunch.

Skye rose to leave without hesitation, knowing Ward would still be in the infirmary, Skye allowed herself a grim smile at that thought. When Skye walked into the dining hall, there were no catcalls, only mixed looks of caution and respect.

-2 days earlier-

Coulson's team watched in shock as they saw Skye flipping over Grant Ward, on the screen.

'Ward is there. With Skye. Why is he there?' trip muttered

'We lost any right to keeping ward when shield fell; we had to hand him over to CIA. They put him there. Call Tasha, get her here now, we have no time to break in, we need Stark.' Coulson replied.

'I heard she's here for murder'

'Well yeah, the way she fights, she's obviously an assassin'

Well, she was trained by one so..Skye thought.

Skye smirked at the gossip being whispered around her so very subtly. Suddenly the room was silent. That raised alarm bells in her head. Was it Ward? Had he come back from the infirmary?

No. it was Stark! And Tasha! She grinned and stood up. Everyone turned to look at her as the visitors strode over to her. Tony reached her and pulled her into a hug and squeezed.

'We heard about Ward.'

'So what? You bought the prison just to get in here?'

'Well no, I just donated a large sum of-'

'Stark, you glorious bastard.'

Tony let go of Skye and she reached for Tasha. They hugged, and Tasha started laughing.

'How did you land yourself in this shit, I swear, every time I'm away.'

Skye heard a cough behind her and she suddenly remembered where she was. She laughed as she realised half the prisoners had crowded around them, trying to hear the conversation.

'Well, covers blown. I'm a spy, she's a super assassin, and he's iron man. I'm out, bitches.'

That will give them something to talk about.

Natasha laughed as she followed Skye walking out of the room.

They reached the front desk and Skye found her weapons and clothes in a bag.

'Let's go'

'Gladly.'

There was a car parked outside the prison and when she got in, she was filled with relief, she was out. She didn't think she could handle being in the same room as Ward and not killing him. Not after what he did to Fitz.

They drove for 20 minutes before they reached a field, where the bus was parked.

Once they were inside, Skye felt the plane lift off. She wandered up to the lounge, where she found everyone waiting. Fitzsimmons both stood up and rushed her, hugging her for a solid minute. When it started getting uncomfortable, they finally let go.

'Skye… we need to debrief you'

'fine Coulson, lemme shower first okay?'

'Of course, Skye'

Skye felt the rivulets of hot water fall across her body. Almost every part of her ached. Her body was a mess. She was still bruised from falling from the vent, but her knuckles were worse. They were a violent blue, and covered in cuts. She had really done a number on ward.

She washed her hair, and then her body, gingerly. And when she was done she changed into the tracksuit bottoms and shield logo sweatshirt she had grabbed from the laundry.

When she returned, nobody had moved. She guessed that should have been a hint.

When she sat down, pity was facing her in the eyes of her team.

'What?'

Coulson sighed. 'We heard what the police officer charged you with. Called you Mary Sue Poots, we weren't sure if it was true, if it was you. But then the others got here, Clint said he'd gotten a lead when he was doing your background check. Said a Mary Sue came to St Agnes orphanage around the time you would have been 1, when you said you went to an orphanage. But his lead came to nothing, said there was no data, all of it deleted as if Mary Sue Poots had never existed. Sounds like your MO. And then Natasha brought up your now un-redacted file. That says Mary Sue Poots too. Is that you?'

'Yes'

Coulson hung his head.

'I didn't kill them.' I whispered, 'Mr and Mrs Finnegan. He was a drunk bastard, he did… stuff to me and the other girls. I was 16 at the time but one of us was only 9.' Skye shook away her tears. 'Mrs Finnegan was nice but one day, she caught him in my room. She cried and screamed, and threatened to call the cops. That's when he grabbed the empty bottle of jack that he had just gone through and smashed it on her head. She was gone before she hit the ground. Elise, the 9 year old had seen it all, she had grabbed a knife from the kitchen, and stabbed him in the gut. She was just a girl. I took the fall, I was planning on leaving anyway, and I could hack pretty well by then, so I covered my prints on the bottle and knife. I told Elise to call the police, told her to say it was me. They never even questioned it. No one expects a child to lie like that, but they forget, orphans grow up faster than most. I had taken all the money I could, emptied their bank accounts. They had no real kids and they didn't need it anymore, so… I ran, bought my van and started to hack'

Everyone was crying at that point. Skye tried to smile but it came out as a grimace. Once she heard Simmons' sobs she couldn't take it. She stood up and ran to my old bunk on the bus. She curled up in ball and ignored the sound of the door opening. She knew who it was.

Skye felt Tasha curl around her, and she turned towards her, making the space between them shrink. Tasha murmured words of comfort in her hair before Skye said,

'He threatened to rape me, Ward. Said he would take what he wanted. Mr Finnegan wasn't the first and he wasn't the last. And different foster parents did other things, they would beat me, and starve me, this one time they pushed me of the roof and broke my arm. Why wouldn't anyone love me? I never did anything wrong. I was just there. Why didn't they just love me?'

'I don't know sweetheart, I don't know. But you are loved now. Phil loves you, tony and the others love you, I love you.' She murmured, placing a chaste kiss to the corner of Skye's mouth.

'I love you too, you know that right?' Skye asked before she pulled Tasha's head down in a searing kiss.

'I know' she whispered against Skye's lips, 'I am a super spy, of course I know.'

Skye leaned forward, placing a delicate kiss on Tasha's lips before she sighed in happiness.

'Come on, sleep, I'll be here when you wake up.'