Skye took a shower.

She felt gross and unkempt considering she had been kidnapped, or captured… well, she didn't know exactly as she didn't remember a lick of it, which made her feel extra dirty with the conscious thought that they could have dropped her in a vat of dirty socks and underwear before SHIELD found her.

Admittedly unlikely, but she wanted to be clean, damn it!

Skye realized that, if what her recent memory told her served, she hadn't taken a shower on her own in a couple weeks - Simmons was a great helper... but awkward sponge baths could only go so far.

She relished in the hot water and the steam that fluffed up her skin. Her fingers brushed lightly over the faded scars of her bullet wounds, which had been fresh and painful to the touch just a day ago.

Or two years ago, but… Skye still wasn't sure if she could accept that.

SHIELD had fallen, which was admittedly a lot to take in, but could it change her as a person? Could May's robot training really do more to her than what Ward had been drilling into her head?

Not to mention the never answered question, where the hell was Ward?

She felt herself abruptly nervous given his line of work, but May had said he was alive.

Her mind must have just been warped from this whole memory thing, even if she was nervous. She could have sworn she felt herself tremble on unsteady ground, as the water before her eyes moved in strange patterns.

Skye chocked it up to worry, not willing to admit hallucinatory side effects just yet.

"So, we're back at square one with Daisy's abilities… you guys do remember that was quite the disaster, right?"

"That was before we had ever even heard the word inhuman, Hunter," said Coulson. "We're much better equipped to handle her now. Plus we have Lincoln…"

"There are three newbies at the Cocoon from that last pick up just a couple weeks ago," came Bobbi's voice. "Daisy's their main lifeline."

"Again, we have Lincoln."

"He's met them, but he hasn't been involved enough to make a bond," said Bobbi. "Daisy's been on point with this, and I think if we send in Campbell it could seriously stunt our chances with helping them."

"We just need a little time," Coulson insisted. "If we can cure this freak case of amnesia, we won't need to traumatize her with all she's been through at once."

"So we're not telling her then?" asked Hunter.

"Hey," May's voice cut through. "We have company."

Every head in the room turned her way, and Skye took that as her cue to come out from the corner. She knew she should have just hacked the security feed to eavesdrop…

She painted a smile on her face that was far too large. "Heeeey."

"You could have come over, Skye," said Jemma warmly. Tired, perhaps, but her sentiment rang through as genuine.

She crossed her arms. "Well, I wouldn't want to interrupt the conversational debate about my future."

"We're just trying to decide what's best for you," said Bobbi.

But I don't even know you, Skye wanted to sneer. She didn't do that though, as Skye knew she couldn't get the upper hand with such childish remarks.

"What's best? Telling me what I should already know is what's best. What are you trying to keep from me?"

Campbell stepped forward, outreaching his hand. Skye scowled a bit. He recoiled, possibly from attempting to make this hand holding time. Instead, he flipped his hand over in front of himself and lit it with sparks.

"Remember this?"

"Kind of hard to forget…" she muttered.

"We call ourselves inhumans."

She nodded. "You mentioned."

"No, Dai- Skye. 'We' as in me and you. You're an inhuman, too."

He stared at her, clearly waiting to gauge a response. She stared right back. In fact, she stared at everyone else in the room to try and figure out what her proper response should be.

"Are you… kidding? I'm an alien?"

Lincoln made a tiny, amused snort. "Your genes are at least."

"So the whole 0-8-4 thing… this is what it is?" she asked, turning to Coulson. He affirmed it with a hesitant nod. Not surprising, considering Campbell seemed to let the cat out of the bag when they had been debating on whether to share the information with her at all. "Well… do I have powers?"

"Yep, you shake things," Hunter said without reserve. "Like, vibrations and earthquakes and such. Quite powerful, really."

Tremors, Skye thought, recalling what Agent Mack had called her.

Cute.

"Wow," she said, taking a deep breath.

Coulson moved forward. "We know it's a lot to take in, and we don't expect you to-"

"Are you kidding me?" she asked loudly, clearly stunning the group of agents. "This… is so cool!"

She beamed at them in excitement. Though she would have assumed this was a good reaction, their reactions had Skye second guessing herself.

Because blank stares bore into her from every angle.

"She got away?"

"I began the memory drain-"

"And she still got away!" The boss turned in upset, suddenly punching at one of Malick's priceless stone busts he liked to keep around. It shattered.

"Now, now," Gideon himself stepped forward. "We had her."

"Which is what makes it more pathetic," spat the undead man. "You shouldn't have attempted the wipe first thing, you should have shot her with an elephant tranquilizer."

Malick had the gall to laugh. "I think you may be overestimating this girl. Is there something that makes her so special?"

Ward, or the thing that used to be him, glared at Malick. Jason wasn't new to Hydra - he'd been around since before the SHIELD reveal, even if he had just been in training - but he'd never met a man as scary as Ward. Not-Ward.

Which, simply put, was because he wasn't a man.

Malick feared him as well, he knew. He tried to hide it in order to keep the upper hand with this new being, but fear cloistered in his throat and manifested somewhat with every word he spoke.

Jason would have been keen to stay in the background. Remain one of the field agents that never had to speak to upper levels in this ride to Hydra's infamy. But after he went through the required alien ritual of Terrigenesis, he acquired a gift that was too powerful to pass up, and soon found himself as Ward's right hand man.

Not-Ward.

Perhaps he was having such a difficult time with it because he had all of Ward's mannerisms. Sure, he looked somewhat like a walker from that one show, but he spoke more or less the same. Had Ward's anger… if not with a little more follow-through. (Which was really saying something, considering Ward 1.0 already had generous follow through).

Most unnervingly was that he brought up events of Ward's past, things he would never have been able to know if he weren't wired directly to his host's mind.

"She has seismic controlling abilities," Ward stressed. "Of course she is special. I would have been happy with the spark plug or melting man too, but I have been disappointed on every count."

Malick grinned. "No, there's more to this. You want that girl. Not just for her abilities." He tilted his head. "I think your connection to Grant Ward is guiding this action somewhat."

Ward heaved, once or twice. Jason feared he was going to rip off Gideon's head after the accusation.

Instead he smiled, slowly, which might have been the more terrifying thing to witness.

"It's true, I do seem to yearn for this woman. For her understanding," said not-Ward. "I think... it will be satisfying when we take her memories so she can understand Hydra's cause. Her power, working beneath me… will just be even more icing on the cake."

Malick showed his toothy sneer, once again pleased with how he was able to control the creature he himself was meant to be following. "Of course."

Ward brought a hand up to his chin, squinting at a non-existent light.

"You say you started to deteriorate her memories before her team caught up to you…"

Jason nervously nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Do you know how much you got?"

"Maybe… a little over two years, sir."

"Which would put her mind right before the collapse of SHIELD."

"Your gears seem to be turning there," Gideon commented.

"They are, I believe," he mused. His cheeks upturned, making a pleased expression. That was good. That was safe. "You know, I like this host. His memories give me just a little… a little push." He began pacing, looking up as though accessing memories. "His thoughts were strange, as well. I believe he manipulated others even when he wasn't sure he'd been doing it. But the ideas he had… those were no mistake. They were well thought out."

"What do you need?" asked Malick conspiratorially. He wanted to know what was going on.

Ward's hand dove into his pocket, fishing out a phone.

He waved it at them. "With Grant Ward's memories and that girl lacking hers, this is all I should need to bring down the head of SHIELD, leaving nothing more than ruins."

"You sure you're up for this?"

"Easy peasy, Campbell. You saw me try these things out," she said, gesturing to her fists as she gave them another once over. Skye couldn't believe she had the ability to make pulses, or freaking shake things with her mind! She felt like a natural, but she'd done it before. Must have been like riding a bike. Muscle memory. "We're like superheroes!"

"Sure, it's cool. But it's a lot of power with a lot of responsibility," he said as they rounded another hallway in the Cocoon – which, if you were wondering, was another secret SHIELD base.

"And a lot of crap I'm not prepared to deal with?"

"I never said you couldn't deal with-"

"Never mind," Skye said, waving him off as she smiled at her own memory. "But Campbell, why is everyone so doom and gloom? I mean… you guys were thinking of not telling me about my abilities, but I'm pretty sure I'd be more freaked out if I accidentally vibrated out my teeth while brushing them or something."

He grinned. "That's oddly specific."

"It was honestly the first thing that came to mind when I thought of these powers going downhill…" she mused.

"Makes sense. You can cause natural disasters that could bring down cities, but vibrating teeth is a decent concern."

"I can cause natural disasters?" she asked.

"Your gift is powerful. Don't underestimate it."

"Chill, guy. We're just going to go talk to these people, right?"

"Mainly, but they've only recently turned. Most are terrified at this stage."

Skye didn't really get why. Ok, so when Hannah thought she had uncontrollable telekinetic powers it didn't bode so well for her… but these people had SHIELD, they were safe.

Weren't they?

"They haven't hurt anyone, right?" Skye asked.

"We snagged them before they had the chance. But they could have."

Lincoln scanned a key card and they walked into a room with what appeared to be a two-way mirror. Skye was about to check out the people through the glass, when a robotic, droning voice pierced the air.

"Unregistered technology detected. Unregistered technology will be disabled."

"What the heck was- ow!" Skye felt a shock in her pocket. "Lincoln, was that you?"

"No, it wasn't, but… I might have forgotten to tell you to check in your phone."

Skye took the electronic out of her pocket. It was, in Laymen's terms, fried.

"That thing was just supposed to disable technology, but it's been bugging lately. It may have broken your phone."

"Gee, you think?" Skye exclaimed, holding up the charred remains. "Why in the hell do you have that thing installed?"

"We had an incident a few weeks ago."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Not really…" he mumbled, but Skye stared him down. He sighed. "It did have to do with a guy with technopathy, an electric toothbrush, and a girl with the power to make things bigger. Not to mention an anger issue."

Skye was slightly overwhelmed by this information, and wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know anymore. Maybe she'd ask for the details later. "Hm. Alrighty, then. Well, let's go do our lifting morale job!"

Skye chucked open the doors of the training facility. There were two girls inside and one guy. The guy looked about fifty and pretty chubby. The girls were younger-probably teens, pretty, and… completely identical.

"Oh, you're twins?"

The brunettes looked at one another, puzzled. One chuckled. "Of course, Daisy. We haven't changed since you last saw us."

"Even if you did meet us after the biggest change of our lives," said the other.

Campbell grabbed Skye's arm to pull her sideways. "You were going to go over the personnel files, remember? You're supposed to know them?" he whispered harshly.

Skye felt her cheeks light fire. "I got excited?" she said sheepishly, wanting to kick herself for being stupid.

He sighed. "It's ok. Just… That's Benny, and those two are Tilly and Talia. Don't worry, you had a hard time telling them apart anyway."

"Got it," Skye affirmed, and then walked over to the group. "How's it going?"

"Hm, alright," said one girl, her hand straining in the air next to a cup full of clear liquid. "I think I'm getting to a point where I can boil water without burning my hand… and Tilly- "

"And my ice isn't spreading without my say-so as often!" chirped the other, who was most likely Tilly. She threw her hand out, freezing a small portion of the wall. Curving her fingers, she kept it contained to a small circle.

Opposites, thought Skye. Sweet.

She noted that when Tilly used her power, her eyes turned a chilling blue along with her fingertips. Skye realized Terrigenisis must have been able to cause physical changes as well.

Skye nodded, trying to appear satisfied. In honesty, she was pretty impressed, so she was forced to hold back a fraction of her excitement. "That sounds great! You two should be ready to go in no time, I'd think. Jerry?"

"Benny," hissed Lincoln.

"Benny! How about you?"

He harrumphed. Sort of. It might have just been a growl but it gave Skye the vibe of a 'harrumph.'

"There's not really a point, is there? You're just going to relocate us to new lives. I'll never see my sweet Mindy again… I don't know why I bother trying! Just put me in the middle of Iceland where I won't be a bother."

Skye blinked, pondering the change of tone from the other inhumans to this one. "Benny, just because you can't go home doesn't mean you have to live in isolation," she told him, trying for a tender voice.

"I might as well! Without my wife… what's the point of seeing anyone?" He'd stood up, hands turned to fists and suddenly shaking.

"Benny…" Lincoln warned, hands out. "Don't get upset."

"Yeah, please," said Skye. "I'm sure there's a way we can figure this out… you should be able to see your wife, after all."

"Daisy-" Lincoln warned, but Benny's voice quickly overtook his.

"You mean it, Daisy?" Benny's yearning eyes lit up in a way that made Skye want to cry. "You mean I could see Mindy?"

"I'm sure, I mean, there has to be a way…"

Her fellow agent stomped in front of her. "Skye. Stop talking."

"We can't just keep these people from their family, Campbell. It's inhuman!" She paused. "The… the bad type of inhuman."

"We can talk about this outside."

"What, you don't think my wife can keep a secret, Lincoln?" bellowed Benny. "We'd be fine on our own! I'd never hurt her."

"You don't even know your own strength, Benny."

"Maybe not, but he could learn," Skye protested. "Once he has it under control like me-"

"You need to shut the hell up-" growled Lincoln.

"DON'T YOU SPEAK TO DAISY LIKE THAT!" Benny bellowed. Really bellowed. Skye took back what she'd thought about him bellowing before, this was a bellow.

Because it literally knocked Lincoln flying through the air, eventually hitting the wall.

"Campbell!" Skye shouted in concern as he hit the ground. The twins had curled up into the corner, clearly fearing the man's rage. She could see why. He was coming at Skye with a fire in his eyes.

"DAISY, I CAN HANDLE IT," the man shouted desperately.

Well, it didn't sound like he was trying to shout anymore, but the noise still left his throat impossibly loud and blowing a large gust at her. She guessed the only reason her feet were merely sliding instead of flying towards the wall was because he wasn't trying to put extra umph into it.

"PLEASE LET ME SEE MY WIFE."

Skye put her hands forward as though trying to subdue a spooked horse. "Benny, even if it's a possibility I need to talk to people! You need more time! You hurt Agent Campbell, let me go check on -"

"LINCOLN WILL BE OK, DAISY," the man continued, stepping in front of her when she tried to go see Campbell. "PLEASE LET ME SEE MY WIFE!"

Skye took a look around. The wind was picking up and carrying inside the tiny room. If he didn't stop now, they have an indoor cyclone to deal with.

"Please Benny, just take it down a notch."

"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?" he asked desperately, taking his head in his hands. Skye saw the pain and frustration mirrored in his expression, his rage, in his tears. "I CAAAAAAN'T!"

With that he let loose, roaring at her the last word.

Skye reacted quickly, her arms shooting out to meet the burst of wind with her own power. The forces collided with incredible power to stop one another. She pushed, and kept pushing, until he ran out of air to scream. Even then she pushed, keeping him on the ground until Lincoln could nod to the cameras for an automatic sedation. A small dart shot at him from the ceiling.

Skye heaved harshly as she dropped her hands, unwilling to accept what she had just done to that poor man.

Campbell finally picked himself up completely. "Tilly, Talia, go to your bunks please. Training's over for today."

They nodded wordlessly, hurrying away. When they were gone, Campbell turned to her furiously.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

Skye was near doubled over from the strain she was recovering from, but picked herself up quickly to defend herself from the blame in his voice.

"That wasn't fair. To be ripped away from your family…"

"We told you they couldn't go back!"

"Was it wrong for him to have hope?" Skye asked, thinking of all those days at the orphanage when all she'd wanted was for her birth parents to show up, for a foster family to finally claim her as their own.

Lincoln's mouth gaped in anger. "Mindy Winters is dead, Skye."

Skye recoiled, her head pounding as though he'd smashed a hammer to her temple.

"You just gave a widower hope that he'd see his wife again," Lincoln spat at her, every word increasing the lump in her throat and the guilt that was welling. "That he'd be able to spend the rest of his life with his dead wife."

"He didn't know?" she asked quietly.

"We haven't told him! She died of an aneurism eight days after we brought him in. Until we know he won't start a hurricane with the news, we were keeping it classified."

Skye attempted to stop tears from escaping. "I'm sorry," she told him. "I didn't know."

He scoffed. "Right, you didn't know. You didn't prep for going in there, you didn't know what you were doing at all! You shouldn't have accepted this mission if you weren't going to take it seriously."

"I was taking it seriously. I just… I made a mistake, ok!"

"If that was you taking something seriously, then I don't know you at all."

"Because I'm not this Daisy person, right? I'm not SHIELD agent robot enough for you, Agent Campbell?"

He stared, momentarily, just before a scoff and the huff of a chuckle at the same time. It was incredibly mirthless. "Yeah. I really don't know you at all."

He turned deliberately harshly and headed away.

Skye bit her lip in upset, knowing she had been in the wrong. So wrong. That had been her fault, and now someone was going to go through worse grief and had been put under unnecessary sedation because she couldn't keep her big mouth shut.

Maybe this was too much for her to handle at once.

She was just wiping a tear from her eye when the phone in her pocket rang. (She refused to call it her phone because- surprise!- that was different too.)

"Skye? Is that you?"

It certainly wasn't a voice she had been expecting to hear, but hell if she wasn't relieved to be listening to it.

"Ward?"

Author's Note: Let me know how I'm doing!