The Note

Authors Note: Hi Everyone

So I hope you liked that last chapter I originally thought this story would be 10 chapters long but I have so many ideas some I've pinched from my independent work just because it seemed to fit the characters well, I hope you'll agree. I think by the time I finish this it may well be a novel lol but old habits die hard there will be a few lighter moments in this chapter but we're still all drama and action. Oh and any mistakes are mine, I do have arthritis in my wrists so I'm prone to typos and I don't always catch them all. Sorry about that.

Grant

I know it may not seem like it just now but I love you, I loved you since the day you put that bag over my head. It kills me that I'm doing this without you, you're my rock, my soul mate but right now I have to find the truth about who I am and what happened to my parents. I'm going to find an old friend of my dad's he says he can help, I know exactly what you'd say "be smart, think about this" which is exactly why I couldn't take you with me because if this goes bad it has to be on me. I can't risk you're life on a maybe but I have to know for sure. If something goes wrong, if this is a trap if it's bigger than me and I just kick started the apocalypse find Dex. Tell him SkyeBlue's in trouble and he'll help. Someday when this is all over I know I don't deserve it but I hope you can forgive me.

Love You Always

Skye

He crushed the note to his chest, he'd read it a hundred times since he'd returned to the bus. He'd known something was wrong the minute he couldn't get hold of her, he'd called after his first few known associates had been a bust they'd not seen Miles in months. He wasn't surprised that she didn't answer she'd said she needed some time alone but when he'd tried to get hold of FitzSimmons and got no answer he knew. His heart kicked up a notch and alarm bells were blaring in his head the wonder twins were many things, but quiet was not one of them. He raced back to the bus at speeds to rival Jenson Button, when he found the two young scientists passed out on the lab floor he thought the worst. Someone must have come for her Hyde must have come for her, he searched the whole bus and then he found this damn note on his pillow. It was in her messy scrawl and it wasn't forced or rushed she'd written this herself, he'd gone back to the lab to try and rouse his colleagues. When they came too they both confirmed what he now feared that it was Skye that had knocked them out.

He was sat in her bunk his head in his hands when Coulson knocked; there was no escaping it he'd have to talk to his superior. Fitz and Simmons would already have given their version of events; he opened the door slowly and took in the look of sympathy on the older man's face.

"Are Fitz and Simmons Ok?" he asked before Coulson could spout any stupid words of wisdom, as cruel as it sounded they weren't his real concern at that moment but he swore if Coulson said anything about this being her fault he would lose it big time. At first he'd been transported back to the first time she'd ran off without him, the sting of betrayal he'd felt then had been unbearable. This time was different though he knew her better now; he knew she'd never do anything like this without him if she wasn't desperate. If Coulson had just been honest with her, with him all of this could have been avoided. She would be here on the bus safe with him; they would have figured all this out together. Instead because of all their lies she was god knows where with god knows who, the rage that he fought so hard to control was fast taking over.

"They are a little shaken but they'll be fine, given what she could have done to them they got off easy. Do you have any idea where she went?" Phil was worried, his niece was a rule breaker but this was extreme even for her. It was clear she either had no intention of returning or could not; he'd mentally kicked himself when Ward had called him back to the bus. He should have known better than to leave her here with only FitzSimmons to guard her, she was upset and vulnerable he should have seen this coming.

"No I don't but you knew that, if I knew where she was I'd be there with her. You do realise this could all of been avoided if you'd just been honest with us" Ward didn't call his superiors out but damn it he was going to do it today.

"Ward I couldn't tell you, you would never have been able to keep it from her. Believe it or not it's my lies that have kept her alive for the past 21 years" he knew he had this coming he couldn't blame Ward for being royally pissed at him but he had to make him understand that things were not that simple.

"Are you serious? Your lies had her knocking out her friends just to get off this damn plane. She's now who knows where and we have no idea how to start and find her. He could have her! She could be locked up in that lab of horrors for weeks before we get to her...she'll never be the same" he swallowed hard past the lump in his throat the thought of anyone hurting her was too much to bear. "Don't stand there and tell me all your lies were worth it, I get that you couldn't tell her back then I even get why you had to leave her at St Agnes. But what I don't get is why when you worked out why he wanted her you didn't come clean then. You and May you knew the mystery agent that dropped her off? May, Right? You told Simmons to act like there was nothing wrong you made me feel like an ass for worrying, when all the time you knew what was happening to her."

"Ward I wanted to tell her, I really did May told me too but I just couldn't. She wasn't ready I knew that there was a good chance she would bolt if I did that she'd run right into his grasp. I had no way of guaranteeing that if she left the safety of this bus that you would follow her. S.H.I.E.L.D. has been your life Ward you live for field work, it's what you excel at. When Skye's parents were murdered some of the corrupted faction were ousted and tried for their crimes but the top players never were some of them may still be within the organisation. If Hyde is working with them, which would explain how he found you then we cannot fully trust those we serve. Would you give it up for her Ward? Will you spend your life forever looking over your shoulder moving from place to place just to be with her? Can you do that? I wanted to keep her safe for as long as I could I thought if I kept her in the dark if her powers remained bound that there was a chance I could convince my superiors that she wasn't what these nuts know she is. Fury and the council they'll help us track these lunatics down but when all this is over if they decide she's too much of a risk...well your an agent you know how they will seek to handle this"

Ward shook his head "I love her Coulson and I don't mean that sappy movie love, I mean I really love her. You're right at one time S.H.I.E.L.D was my life but when she came aboard this plane that all ended, I fooled myself that I took on the role of her SO because I could teach her to become an agent like me. She's nothing like me she's far better she's empathy, compassion, warmth and light, she wears her heart on her sleeve, she's reckless, a rule breaker, she's not driven by blind loyalty but by love and a desire to do the right thing. She'll never be an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D because following orders blindly without even questioning if what you're being asked to do is right. That's not her and that's what makes her better than all of us maybe the Avengers will take her" he smiled at that Skye and Tony Stark together now there was a recipe for chaos. "If you'd have asked me those questions a month ago I would have hesitated but my answer would have been the same. My universe has no centre without her; she's my sun, my everything. So If I have to leave S.H.I.E.L.D and tear this world apart to save her I will, I'll take every son of a bitch out who ever dared lay a finger on her and I'll do it without a second thought. I'll track her to the ends of the earth until she looks me in the eye and tells me she doesn't love me. You think I'm Mr T-1000 perfect agent that toes the company line well maybe that's who I was before her but it's not who I am now. If you and S.H.I.E.L.D really are the good guys then you won't stand in my way" he glared at Coulson it didn't matter how many excuses he gave, he should have told them the truth.

"I know it doesn't mean much to you now but I'm sorry I doubted you, I know I'm not going to be able to stop you from going after her but will you at least let me help. You may not know where she is but from the way you've been studying that note she must have left you a clue"

"All she gave me was a name...Dex" Coulson was a lot of things and right now Ward was very close to hating him but if he was going to find her he would need help. He didn't trust Phil right now but he trusted her and if she said this Dex guy could help him find her then he had to track him down, he'd need his teams help for that. "If he's an old friend chances are he's rising tide which means he's likely to be very mistrusting of us, I need help finding him but after that I'm going it alone" there was no way he was compromising on that part.

"Sir" Simmons approached the two men at speed "Mr Starks, Jarvis picked her up she apparently headed to a bar called Durty Nelly's she was inside for just under an hour. The owners name is Dexter O'Neil he inherited the bar from his father 7 years ago before that he served in the Marine Core as Black Ops but that's all we have on him. No criminal record, no apparent ties to any criminal organisations" Jemma Simmons was a tough one that was a fact for someone who had an hour ago been passed out on the floor of her lab after being shot in the back, she did quick work. What were the chances that this guy could not be the mysterious Dex as for him being ex Black Ops Ward didn't know if that would go in his favour or not.

"Good work Simmons did Stark agree to keep this between us"

"Yes Sir but he said you owed him big time and he's still a tad annoyed that you failed to notify him of your miraculous recovery. Other than that he was very helpful"

"Keep digging at the moment Dexter O'Neil is our only connection to Skye. Hopefully he will be able to give Agent Ward some idea of who Skye met up with and where she went from there. If he's ex military there's a good chance he will be willing to help us but any extra information we can gather on him will help." He looked pointedly at Ward "Go now before anyone else tracks down Mr O'Neil, contact me if you find anything."

Ward nodded his pack was still in the SUV he headed straight for the cargo bay, he hoped to god she was right about this guy that he would help because if not he had no idea how he would find her.


He arrived outside the bar in record time and took in the run down appearance; he was glad he was in his street clothes and not the black suit he usually donned for interrogations. He pushed open the old wooden door and entered a dimly lit room the bar was small, none of the tables and chairs matched but oddly it worked. There was an old 50's juke box pushed up into the corner by the rest rooms, the bar was well stocked although how Irish this place actually was remained to be seen the only Irish thing he could spot was the Jameson's Whiskey.

Behind the bar stood a well built guy, his skin was tanned and the wavy blonde locks made him look like he belonged on a Florida beach not some run down bar in Austen. He was almost as tall as ward there was barely an inch in it and when he looked up it was with distrust, he obviously did not like strangers in his bar.

Dex O'Neil was an intelligent guy the minute that that stranger stepped into his bar he knew what he was, not his usual patron. He was an agent FBI, CIA maybe even S.H.I.E.L.D. It had been nearly 3 hours since Skye and Miles had left with that Dr guy they would be out of US airspace by now but this guy showing up was no coincidence he was government and he was after Skye that much he knew. He stared him down with open hostility "What Can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for a girl; I was told she was in here earlier today." No point making small talk this guy was not stupid "I believe you know her, she's very special to me she left me this note" he placed it on the bar "she told me to find you told me to tell you that SkyeBlues in trouble that you'd help find her"

Dex took the note he recognised the handwriting the messy scrawl "You'd be Grant then?"

Ward nodded "That's Me"

Dex shook his head, damn her always biting off more than she could chew. He knew she was holding something back earlier she'd mentioned Agent Grant Ward but she'd left out his significance. He got the impression that she'd left an awful lot out, he looked at the young agent took in his sombre expression. Unless he was an Oscar winning actor he was really worried about her but that didn't gel with what baby girl had said about him, he smiled when he saw her old code name. He'd taught her everything she knew about computer science although he was sure Miles the arrogant little punk would make the same claim but Dex had spent many hours in his back room teaching her and she was a natural. He helped her find as much as he could on herself before she followed a lead to LA even gave her his old van. She'd kept in contact before she joined S.H.I.E.L.D and after that he'd received one text and that was it till she turned up at his bar that afternoon. He sighed, this guy obviously cared about her he obviously went to great lengths to track him down and ask for his help and if Skye had sent him then she must trust him. "Did you come alone?"

"Yes"

"If your lying to me I will kick your ass" and he could Dex was a tough son of a bitch no stranger to combat.

"Noted" God this guy was like his double this was weird.

"I'm guessing when she came in here earlier today I didn't get the whole story so if you want my help you better fill me in" Grant gave him the full story everything he knew, he didn't know why but he trusted this guy.

Dex whistled "Son of a Bitch, baby girl what have you got yourself into" he shook his head. "She was meeting Miles he'd sent her the unredacted file on her parents, he'd said he'd been passed it by an old friend of her dads. He came in here with an older guy around noon early fifties, about 5"8, dark haired, white said his name was Dr Mark Johnson claimed to be her dads BFF and her godfather. She said he wanted to help her that she wasn't safe in the US anymore that she had to leave the country. They left in a black town car were headed for a private air strip he had papers for her"

"Did they say where they were headed?"

"She said Hong Kong but who knows if that was the truth do you really think he's in league with this Hyde guy?"

"I don't know but my boss seems to think so, guess I'm headed to Hong Kong"

"It's a pretty big place man, you may want to dig up some more intel before you charge in on your white horse, look I gotta ask do you love her?" Dex did not trust these government suits, he never really trusted them back in his Marine Core days and he sure as hell didn't trust them now, he had his reasons but he wasn't going into them with this guy. If Skye was in trouble he couldn't not help her, and if she'd sent a suit to him then she was in some deep shit.

"Yeah I do, I know you don't know me and I'm guessing your more than just a bar tender if you know Skye so I know you don't trust S.H.I.E.L.D, if I'm honest I'm not too sure I do right now. I need to find her, I need to fix this because if he has her then..." he couldn't finish that sentence.

"That bad?"

"Your Ex Black Ops right? So you know how these guys operate, he wants something from her and he's going to make sure he gets it. No matter what he has to do, I saw the state of his last victims some of them were so messed up I thought they were dead. Maybe I'm a selfish son of a bitch but right now I don't care about the fact that he's hell bent on destroying the world. I just want her back, safe and I don't care how I get her back but look if you can help I'm not gonna turn it down" Grant was on the war path but he knew if he was going to get her back that he needed help, this guy Dex may be his best hope.

"Jesus" Dex rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands "But Miles was with them, he loves her or he did why would he hand her over to someone whose hell bent on hurting her? That's what I don't get, the kids a flashy little punk ass but handing over a fellow member to the enemy is completely against the code" he'd never really liked Miles the kid was arrogant and if he was honest not that bright but some of his hacks had been impressive although Dex had helped on the bigger ones but this? Had he flipped on them?

"Yeah well sounds like he broke the code a few times just recently like selling information to some pretty evil people and your right he is a little punk ass. Skye said he'd never hurt her but at one time she also said he'd never lie to her but it didn't stop him. That file that he sent her triggered her abilities he basically turned her into a walking target for every government agency and terror cell that would just love to use her abilities. Even if I can find her she'll never be safe, chances are if S.H.I.E.L.D have gone dark and they won't protect her then..." he blew out a big breath "we'll spend our lives on the run".

"You'd do that for her? You'd give up your whole life?" Dex was incredulous wow this guy was intense but right now there was no doubt this is what she needed. He was reeling he'd had that dumb kid in his bar he should have paid more attention. Damn it.

"Yeah I will, I don't have much family not that I claim anyway and if S.H.I.E.L.D turn on her then they've turned on me too" that was the truth there's no way he could remain part of an organisation that could turn on her.

"Look your right I don't trust suits, I got my reasons and I'm not going into those with you. To me you're a suit but if Skye's in trouble there's no way I'm not going to help. She's like a kid sister to me. I got no-one else that relies on me I can get someone to watch the bar but you lie to me, any of your suit friends turn on me then I'll take you down. If you've read my file you know I can do it, I'm here for Skye and that's it. Before she left she said she'd let me know when she got their safe, I taught her everything she knows so maybe if we're lucky I can track her cell or that cracked out laptop of hers. I know she had it on her she told me you guys wouldn't be able to track it here, S.H.I.E.L.D may not be able to break her encryption but I can. If we get a location we can go from their Hong Kong may be good enough for you but personally I like to hammer the details out a little more before I walk into a hornets' nest"

Grant had to chuckle at that yeah he guessed he must come across as reckless and desperate at the moment, he was. If he'd of met Dex before this though there's no way he'd have accused him of that pre-Skye he was an organised, meticulous machine but just lately more and more of her characteristics were rubbing off on him. "You know I didn't used to be like this...before her...well I was a very different guy" he didn't know why he was sharing this, he didn't know Dex.

"Love will do that to you"

"Sounds like you know"

"I did once, not anymore" Grant didn't push it for one he didn't know the guy and even if he had it didn't sound like a subject that was up for discussion. His thoughts flicked back to Skye and his heart clenched with worry a small part of him a very small part had hope that she was right about Miles because at least if she was she'd have one person in her corner until they could get to her. Even if he wanted to beat the prick to a pulp, no matter what his intentions he was at least partially to blame for this mess.

"So say we get her location, how do you plan to get their?" Dex broke his reflection, it's not like they could really use public transport. If these guys had as much influence as the suit thought then they had to be watching out for anyone connected to S.H.I.E.L.D coming after her, which would mean they had to have the local police and maybe even security forces and politicians in their back pockets. Sneaking up on them was not going to be easy. Thinking about their potential monitoring capabilities raised another question "How the hell did you find me?" if Skye's laptop was encrypted and she'd not left his address how the hell had the suit tracked him down? He had to know this so he could rectify it couldn't have a repeat. Dex was off grid for a reason he didn't want any old "friends" tracking him down.

"To answer your first question my team have a mobile flying unit that we can use, I'm sure director Fury can clear us to enter Chinese air space. As to how we found you Skye only left your name, but my team were able to talk Stark into helping track Skye. They managed to get a shot of her entering this bar and the liquor license stated the owners name was a Dexter O'Neil. What were the chances right?"

"God Damn Stark, well I guess there's not much I can do about that then" he groaned. Unless... "If I help you track down Skye and get her back to the US you'll owe me right?"

"Yeah I would"

"Well then there's something I need you to do for me, I can wipe myself of all online databases but the damn paper files at the pentagon and apparently city hall I can't get rid of. I don't want anyone having any information on me no old military records, no school records no nothing. I want to be untraceable; you think you can do that?"

"I'll talk to my boss you help us and you're not some kind of super villain then I'm sure we can arrange it" He wondered what had happened to make this guy so paranoid, he didn't give off any crazy vibes but then if there was one thing Grant Ward had learnt as an agent. You never could tell take Bruce Banner you couldn't tell Ward that anyone on meeting Bruce could have predicted the guy could turn into a massive green rage monster if you ticked him off. It was always wise to keep your guard up who knew what lurked beneath the surface. "My team are searching for any sign of her or Miles Lydon now we have a general maybe they'll narrow it down but if you could come back to the bus and lend them your...expertise maybe we can hurry the process along. Chances are they made her dump her laptop and she left her cell in her bunk"

"Where exactly is this bus?" Dex did not want to go strolling through any military bases or S.H.I.E.L.D HQ that would defy the point of keeping a low profile.

"We're parked up at a small airfield it's about a 20 minute drive from here, when can you be ready?"

"Give me an hour I need to get someone to watch the place and pack some equipment up" Grant nodded.

"You know we do have all the latest computer stuff in our lab"

"Computer Stuff?" Dex raised his eyebrows at that "Well I guess it's true what they say opposites really do attract, computer stuff seriously?" he shook his head and retreated into his office to make a call.

He was ready in 20 minutes luckily Sam an old buddy had nothing better to do than to watch the bar. Sam likely another Tide member Grant thought and he guessed that's what Dex was since he knew both Miles and Skye. Though he never officially admitted it, Sam was still a kid probably a little younger than Skye and he eyed Ward nervously.

"Right Suit, let's go Sam I'm back when I'm back. Don't trash the place or I'll kick your ass got it"

"Got it" despite Dex's warning the kid was laughing, then his glance swung back to Grant and he stopped.

They climbed into the SUV that bore the S.H.I.E.L.D logo "Wow subtle suit" quipped Dex.

"You know you can call me Ward" it was bad enough some of his team referred to him as robot without this.

"Nah I think I'll stick to suit wouldn't want you thinking we were buds or anything. Say did anyone ever tell you, you look like the T-1000?" Dex snickered.

"It may have been mentioned once or twice" he actually smiled at that for a moment normally he'd be pissed but he couldn't help think of Skye.

He started the engine and headed back to the airfield, I'm coming for you Skye just hold on he thought.

Hope you like this one I'll try and update ASAP but as Xmas is nearly upon us I'm a busy bunny at the moment. Also if anyone has any prompts they'd like to see feel free to send them in. I know where I'm going with this story but I love doing little one shots "You Sunk My Battleship" was a result of a prompt so get them to me :)