Okay, we can get back to actual plot now. Hoped you enjoyed the last two light chapters.
Captain America: Winter Soldier
When Maria left for D.C. in a hurry, Skye was concerned. When news came in that Fury had been attacked, and was in the hospital having emergency surgery, Skye was terrified… especially when Clint showed up at her office looking grave. Clint never looked grave.
"What? Have you heard from Nat? Is Fury okay?"
"Fury's dead." Skye felt like she'd been hit by a truck. She didn't know Nick Fury particularly well, and she liked him less, but still. He was Director Fury! He couldn't just be dead. Nothing could take him down, nothing. "Nat just called and said so. I asked her if she wanted us to come down, but she said to stay here and trust nobody. I chose that that didn't mean you."
Skye was touched, but she knew it was true. Clint trusted her with knowing about his family. None of the male avengers knew. Not Steve, not Tony, just Skye and Natasha. And Skye trusted him as well, which was surprising. She barely trusted anyone after everything that had happened with Ward, but she trusted Clint. After some of their missions these past few years, Skye would be crazy not to.
"So what do we do?"
Clint looked at Skye, and remembered how young she still was. Not the child he first met, per say, but definitely not a true adult. She had faced far more than most adults ever would, however, and all that before Shield. "We listen to Nat, stay here, run the base until Maria gets back."
"If she comes back," Skye realized with a pointed look. "As deputy director she could very well end up with Fury's job."
Clint nodded, hoping, for Maria's sake, that that would not be the case. "Yeah, just get back to work for now, see if you can keep your mind off of things."
Skye nodded and left, doing exactly what she always did when she needed to get her mind off of things.
"Skye!" Jemma's voice was warm on the other end of the face chat. "It's been too long since you've called. How are you?"
So obviously she hadn't heard about Fury then. Well Skye wasn't going to ruin her friend's mood. "I'm okay, how is everything on the Bus?"
"We're actually not on the Bus," Jemma admitted and Skye realized it was the truth. It actually looked like they were at the "Hub, yeah we had to stop in for some things. It's only for a few days though, and then we're back in the air. I still miss you being with us."
Skye missed those days as well, but right now working as Clint's partner and a Avenger was doing a lot more good than being on the Bus. There were plenty of awesome agents on that plane, not so many at the Parthenon.
'Oh wait," Jemma called out pursing her lips. "Give me a second I just got a Shield notification."
That was odd, Skye looked down at her phone and realized she had as well. Scanning it quickly, Skye looked back up at her friend who seemed equally nauseous. "I have to go. If Cap and Nat are wanted by Shield, then there is something very, very wrong."
"Good luck," Jemma called sounding worried for her friend. Ever since Skye was reassigned Jemma had been worried for her friend. It was a different life away from the Bus, especially for one with powers.
"Keep your head low at the Hub, okay?" Skye couldn't help but feel like this was probably the worst possible time for them to land at a Shield facility. "Whatever this is, it's big."
Skye clicked off the call and went to find Clint, who had already reached her door. "Okay, now we can worry."
Skye and Clint were about to fly out to D.C. that second to go help Natasha and Steve, but Skye found her phone buzzing. Clint, suspecting what the message was, snatched it from her hands.
616-223-4477:Hey baby, meet you tonight at 9, down at the pizza place on east main street.
Clint hurried back a response, and unloaded the plane they'd been stuffing. "What's going on?" Skye asked her partner confused. Why was Clint so eager to answer a message sent to a wrong number? When Clint didn't answer her, Skye snatched back her phone and read the conversation herself.
You: I think you have the wrong number, what were you trying to dial?
616-223-4477: Oh, my bad, I thought this was 466-384-7698. How embarrassing?
Skye has been confused when Clint went off mission in Cambodia to get a smoothie, but this was on a whole other level. Still, she didn't say anything because Clint spoke. "Kids these days with their texting and instapound."
"It's instagram," Skye corrected honing all the spy skills she knew. For Clint to use their code, for Clint to say they couldn't be talking aloud in a Shield base, it had to be really, really, really bad.
"Whatever," Clint muttered heading towards their cars. "So we said Mario's right?"
Mario's was a wonderful place because the owner was so freaking paranoid. She was convinced the government was spying on her constantly, and had worked to set up her pizza place where there wasn't a single camera. Add on the lack of wi-fi or phone signal, and it was the places place for them to talk when they couldn't go back to the Farm.
"So, I'm assuming that was Nat?" Skye finally whispered over her meatball sub. "Why didn't she text you?"
Clint took a bite of his sausage before shrugging. "Tasha probably figured they'd be tracking my phone, hoping she'd try reaching out to me. As far as anyone knows, you and Nat only met in New York and haven't seen each other since."
Well, they hadn't, not officially, but both girls considered the Farm a home of sorts, so they ended up bumping into each other quite often. Almost enough that Nat wasn't trying to drive Skye from Shield still, but just almost. "So, what does it mean?"
"Shield has been compromised, don't know by who, but it's someone we would recognize the name of but have never fought." Wow, that was some in depth code they had. Considering whom it was, Skye wasn't surprised. "The worst bit is that she didn't give us her coordinates, which means she wants us to stay here and hold down the Parthenon. Whatever she and Steve are up to, it's not going to stay at the Triskelian."
Skye suddenly was glad she'd warned Jemma to watch herself. The Hub was the third biggest Shield facility, whatever this was, there were moles there too. "So what do we do?"
"Hold down the Parthenon," Clint made it sound so easy Skye could almost believe it. "Knowing Nat, there is going to be some huge announcement and then we'll know what's going on. Until then we wait."
So wait they would.
It was horrible the next day pretending everything was okay when it was so obviously not. Lucky for Skye, no one suspected that she knew more than anyone else because everyone was tense. No one spoke in the hallways, everyone filled out their paperwork silently, the place could have been a morgue. That was why it was all the more terrifying when Steve Roger's voice flooded out towards them.
"Attention all SHIELD agents. This is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over these last few days, some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it's time you know the truth. Shield is not what we thought it was, it's been taken over by Hydra. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The STRIKE and Insight crew are Hydra as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want: absolute control. They shot Nick Fury, and it won't end there. If you launch those Helicarriers today, Hydra will be able to kill anyone who stands in their way, unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."
Skye didn't understand half of what Steve was talking about, because he probably didn't even realize every Shield agent, not just those at the Triskelian, could hear him. The message was clear though- Hydra was running Shield.
"I said to expect a big flashy message," Clint sighed slinging his bow off his back and aiming it around the building, searching for some sign of Hydra. "But not us to be fighting Nazi's, that's for sure."
These weren't Nazi's though, not really; they were far, far worse.
Skye felt a bullet's energy and sidestepped seconds before it hit her. Looking around frantically, she caught sight of the shooter, just as he, and a dozen others, turned their guns on her and Clint.
It made sense-take out the Avengers. But shooting at someone with the power to control energy really wasn't the best idea, because Skye had learned a wonderful party trick that involved her directing the energy in bullets and turning them around.
The base descended into chaos as partners shot partners, allies shot allies. No one knew who was Hydra and who was not, but the message was fairly clear-if someone was shooting at you or an Avenger, assume they were Hydra and shoot back.
"What's the most dangerous item in this place?" Skye asked Clint projecting a shield in front of them. "Because we can assume that's something they'd want."
Skye heard a muttered 'shit' as Clint docked a half dozen arrows and sprayed the attacking agents before running up the stairs. Cursing him Skye followed, helping everyone she could, even if she felt they might be Hydra. Unless she was absolutely sure, Skye was going to consider them innocent, because she couldn't rationalize the other option.
"How come I didn't know we had an Obelisk!" Skye was freaking out, but she sort of had a right to. "This is a dangerous weapon!"
Clint wasn't going to argue with her. The only reason Skye hadn't been told about the acquisition was because she would freak, and he didn't blame her. Still, it wasn't his call. "The good news is that none of them can touch it, so it's safe."
Skye didn't believe that; she had heard of gloves. Carefully, she pulled it free. "Well, I can hold it, and no harm done, so I'm going to hide it thank you very much."
She would have hid it if she didn't feel a bullet rip through her body that very second.
When Skye's eyes blinked open a few days later, Clint was sitting by her bedside. "Hydra, the Obelisk…where?" she asked sitting up with a start. Searing pain coursed through her abdomen, and Skye didn't have to ask what happened. She'd been shot before; she knew what it felt like. "Okay, ow, ow, ow, lying back, lying back."
"They got the Obelisk," Clint admitted once he was sure the girl hadn't torn everything open again. "I couldn't touch it, and you would have died if I hadn't gotten you to the med bay."
If Skye could have moved, she would have punched Clint. As it was she made a note to ask the Hulk to do it-that would really hurt. "So you chose my life over all of the people who will die because Hydra has an Obelisk!"
"Yes," Clint could have made lies, he could have excused his actions, but he didn't. "Because you and I, we can save those people, but only if you're alive. And you're my…" Clint didn't know how to finish that sentence; the English language didn't have a word to properly describe their relationship. "You're my Skye, and I wasn't going to let you bleed out. We'll track down the Obelisk before Hydra can use it."
Somehow Skye knew 'we' meant more than she and him. "What happened? How long has it been?"
"Three days," Clint admitted turning on the TV to where Natasha was facing Congress. "Shield has fallen, but so has Hydra. Steve is still in a coma, I owe Nat ten bucks; I thought he'd wake before you. As for the rest of us… well Tony bought the Parthenon, said it used to be one of his dad's storage facilities anyway. He offered you a job as well, in his 'tech division.' Maria calls it 'privatizing world security'," he answered with a shrug. "It's basically a way for us to buy time until everything settles down a bit. The Avengers never really belonged to Shield, and Congress isn't calling for our heads, so that's a start. I guess it's up to us to take down what's left of the organization." Skye sort of liked the sound of that. Hitting Nazis was fun. "You should know," he waited until he was leaving to address the issue, knowing Skye would be as upset as he was. "You should know the Obelisk isn't the only piece of alien tech they got. It appears Loki's scepter is gone as well."
Skye couldn't wait until she was healed. She really, really needed to go hit some Nazis.