Scientists and doctors hovered over her dressed in scrubs and surgical masks, white gloves and goggles. At first, she wondered what they were doing. What… problem they were fixing. But then they started to cut into her, and the pain started. And she couldn't stop screaming.
Waking up in a cold sweat, Skye bolted up from her sleeping bag, panting and frantic. Her eyes darting left and right, trying to make sense of her surroundings. But once she realized she was in her van, she calmed down. The metal cramped space didn't help her feel better. She kept feeling trapped. But the familiarity helped. To the rest of the world this was a crappy van but to her it was her house. Clicking on a lamp light, Skye immediately clocked the two puncture wounds on the side of her van. She traced a hand over the holes and frowned.
Needing some air, Skye clicked off her lamp and pulled on her shoes. She walked the streets of Los Angelo not without a purpose. She had been staking out this nondescript office building for a few days now. Skye was a hacker by trade and that was good when she needed a lead, but instinct told her she could only find any real answers if she went inside and snooped around. Whatever this building was… whatever Project Centipede was… it wasn't anything good.
A car pulling up to the building made her stop in her tracks. A cab parked itself right at the front and a tall man walked out, paid the fare and made his way into the building. He didn't attempt to enter inside but he did pull out his phone and make a phone call.
Curiosity was burning in her mind. She had to check it out and use her superpower.
What Skye thought was the coolest thing in the world but was actually kind of lame according to her boyfriend was her heightened olfactory sense. Her sense of smell was off the charts. The power came into being a little over two months ago and it was far more useful than most people would think.
She quickly made her way to the same sidewalk the mystery man was standing and waiting on. She could just make out a snippet of conversation.
"—almost there. We added some more security measures—"
"Yeah, no worries," said the man, tapping his foot anxiously.
"Hey, you got any change?" asked Skye, surprising the man.
"What? Um... yes, hold on," he said, and Skye got a good look at him. Tall, black, bald, kind eyes and sporting a winter jacket and jeans. He shuffled out two dollars and handed it to Skye. She accepted gratefully and thanked him.
"Seriously, you're a lifesaver," she said taking a step closer and smelling him.
Deodorant: Old Spice. Ketchup, cheese, and beef. Just ate a burger. Those were the obvious things. The smells that could be washed away with enough soap. But his unique scent was what intrigued her more. He smelled almost… cancerous. Like he was sick, but… there was this stranger smell underneath it all… in his blood. It smelled tainted and almost overwhelming. Alien. If she had to put a name to it.
"Yeah, no… problem," he said, off put by her close proximity.
Skye said nothing more, briskly walking past him and trying to clear as much distance just as the front door to the building opened and the man walked inside. She turned a corner into the next street and sneaked a few glances. She just managed to catch sight of a lab coat as the door closed.
Doctors? She thought. This building was registered as a self-improvement center but that didn't exactly line up with all the money that was being thrown at it and Project Centipede. The thought made her stomach lurch and then her watch beeped.
It was 5:30 AM now, it was time for her to take her pills. She hurried back to her van as inconspicuously as possible. Once inside she popped open the middle console of her van and took out a bottle of blue and red pills. It wasn't so serious, her condition. Osteoporosis. Her bones were malformed. Something she's had since birth from what she was told at the orphanage. The medicine was just Calcium pills, a tailored dose for her specific condition, an increase in bone density which made it impossible for her to ever swim and made her about a hundred pounds heavier. Because of her messed up bones she had a calcium deficiency. An easy fix.
She popped two pills and chased them with some water before tossing the bottle of pills back into her console and closing it. There was an immediate headache that followed. Which was normal according to her doctor. But now… she just needed to lie down and ride out the migraine.
Laying in her sleeping bag, Skye forced herself to sleep where she was sure another nightmare awaited.
"What do you think, Mary? Orange or yellow?" asked Anna.
"Yellow, of course," said Mary.
Anna smiled while as she continued to sew a new dress for her doll, now adding in yellow yarn. In the distance a train whistled, and Mary looked up in excitement. A few minutes later the front doors to Saint Agnes opened to reveal a grizzled man in a leather jacket and a white muscle shirt. Mary was overjoyed, rushing over and enveloping him in a big hug.
"Hey kiddo," the man chuckled. "Did ya miss me?"
Marry nodded into this shirt, tears threatening to spill. She knew he only came to stop by, that'd he'd be leaving soon. When she pulled away from the hug and the man saw her tears, he knelt down to her level.
"Hey, hey, hey… I'm leaving forever. I just have some business I need to take care of. Some loose ends. And then we'll get out of here. Go home."
Mary didn't respond, she just looked somber, eyes full of grief.
With a heavy sigh, the man removed his dog tags and looped it over the girl's neck. "Tell you what, I'm gonna come back for this. So, you hold on to them for me, okay?"
The girl fiddled with the dog tags, smiling slightly.
"Atta girl…"
Skye woke up silently with abated breath. Reaching up a hand to her cheek, she felt a dried tear. Sitting up slowly she carefully trailed a finger to her neckline and pulled on the dog tags she always wore. This wasn't the first time she had had this dream, this memory. The man's face was a blur to her, but she felt she knew him. Maybe he was her father, maybe not. The dog tags didn't reveal any information. The name on them didn't match any records she's managed to scrounge up over the years. It was like the man didn't ever exist and yet... she still held on to them, as if for dear life.
Captain James Howlett. A WWII soldier. The tags were the only thing she owned when she left the orphanage. She bounced around New York for a few years before ending up with Miles and then eventually joining the Rising Tide where she finally found her purpose. But even though she loved what she did, she never felt quite whole. The missing piece in her life was her parents, her people, whoever they might be.
The morning sun started to peak through the alleyway where Skye parked her van, the unfiltered rays casting a blinding light in her eyes.
With a groan she got ready and dressed to continue her stakeout. Walking through the streets of LA, Skye found a corner café next to a toy store with an outside seating area. She drank a latte while she watched the building that housed whatever Project Centipede was.
Then she spotted him. That man from before who went inside the building last night. She clocked him walking in front of the toy store with a little boy. His son? she guessed.
Then an explosion rocked the street causing her to spill her drink, everyone around her similarly gasping and shouting in panic.
Skye immediately pulled her phone to start recording. She tried to spot the mystery man from before, but she lost him in the chaos. It felt like seconds but before she knew it the glass window thirty feet up shattered, and that man jumped out, a person in his arms. He landed on the street below with a resounding thud, cracking the asphalt around him where he then knelt down and gently laid the redheaded woman on the ground.
Skye couldn't believe she just caught all that on camera.
In the aftermath of the building explosion, after police were called on scene, Skye had long since made herself scarce. She followed the mystery man, who was being called the Hooded Hero by various news crews, to an apartment complex where he dropped off his son before leaving again. Skye kept her distance and used her superpower to follow him easily through the crowded city streets. It was sort of jarring to Skye, his scent. There was something so foreign about it, it almost made it too easy to follow him through the city.
Eventually he made his way to a diner. After checking the address, Skye left to get her van and parked it in the back of the diner. Thinking this was perhaps a local stop for the Hooded Hero, Skye went ahead and geometrically locked all of her equipment with her own personal program.
Just in case.
Casually walking across the window from the outside and watching the man eat a sandwich and then finish. Now he was looking at a newspaper. Was now the time? she wondered. She didn't want to come on too strong. She just wanted him to know she was on his side. That she'd tell his story if he wanted. Get in front of it all before the feds and a certain agency got wind of him.
Taking a deep breath, she walked inside the diner.
The diner had a TV showing the news and a clip of the woman who was saved asking for the Hooded Hero, to thank him.
Scoping out the diner, Skye let herself sit across the Hooded Hero who looked up confused.
"Just act natural," she told him, eying the crowded diner.
"What?" he asked, more confused.
"Just pretend that we're talking," she stressed.
The man looked left and right, somehow even more confused. "We are."
"Good. 'Cause you never know who could be listening," Skye said.
"I don't even know who's talking— wait, wait, I remember you. From last night. Are— are you following me?"
"Well…" Skye's face scrunched up in thought, "More like watching over you."
"Excuse me?" he said.
"Look. I'm Skye and I'm just looking out for people like us," she said, hoping he'd catch her meaning.
"People like…?" the man played dumb.
Rolling her eyes, Skye said, "Powered people. I saw you the other day. You're the Hooded Hero."
At those words the man blanked, looking down at his coffee before shaking his head. "I'm just a factory worker."
"Yeah, by day. I saw you, you're a hero. Like a for real, superhero—"
"And you're one too," he said almost mockingly. "A superhero?"
"My thing isn't so… super. Took me a while to hone it. You should see my friend Matt, he's got a similar thing and he's like this blind ninja— look, that's not important. Bottom line is, you're in danger."
"You have the wrong guy," he tried to say again, but to unbelieving ears.
"And you have the wrong approach. Look, I get it. You're hiding. But that clip of you saving that woman already has millions of views. You'll be trending by tomorrow morning. You can't hide forever."
The man took on a tired expression. "What do you mean about danger?" he relented.
Skye leaned forward, "S.H.I.E.L.D.," she whispered.
"Shield what? I should carry a shield?" he said.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. Government. Scary men in dark suits who come after people like us. They knew about the Battle of New York before it even happened. And then cleaned it up before anyone could ask any real questions. Overnight. How long do you think it'll take for them to clean you up?"
"And you wanna know why I'm hiding," he said.
"What if you didn't hide? What if you got out in front of this and let people know that you're a hero," Skye tried to convince.
"I'm just a guy," he said exasperated.
"We're more capable than we know," she said, almost not believing the words herself. "Look come by my office—"
"You have an office?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yes, I have an office. It's a mobile office. It's a van," she ended up admitting. "I live in a van. By choice!" she added. "But it's always in the alley around the corner, free Wi-Fi, and you can come by any time," she offered with a smile.
"Thanks," he said with a head shake, meaning the opposite, before getting up and leaving.
Skye waved him off, "They're coming for you…"