A/N: And I finished the next chapter! Coulson and May show up here, but they've cooled their tempers somewhat.
Thank you to my amazing beta, LisaMichelle25! She does an incredible job :)
Thank you also to Alkeni, Brenda, annavale23, Alex, SydTheKid, SergioAguero and guest for your reviews!
Alex - No, Kara wasn't raped, but Cynthia automatically assumed so.
I don't think that this chapter requires any trigger warnings, but if any of you think that it does, please let me know! :)
Everything I thought about myself is a lie.
Kara sat, frozen in horrified shock, staring at Skye. The girl shifted uncomfortably under the gaze.
"I…" Kara started to speak, but found it difficult for her to form any words. "I-I-"
Skye drew one of her hands out from under Kara's and placed it back on top. "Kara, you don't have to say anything right now." She said softly. Kara nodded, and gratefully gripped Skye's hands more tightly.
Tears threatening to fall, Kara tipped her head back and tried to blink them away. She regulated her breathing by funneling the air through her lips, which were formed in an 'o' shape, and this slowly brought her thundering pulse back to normal.
"I'm okay." she mouthed, trying to work her body into speaking coherently again. "I'm okay. I'm okay."
Skye waited patiently during the several minutes it took for Kara to calm down. She was surprised it hadn't taken longer.
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Kara attempted to speak again. "Where did you find my name?" she asked, slowly and deliberately.
"In the S.H.I.E.L.D. servers." Skye replied. "There's a large file on you. It has the general information such as name, date of birth, place of birth, where you were raised, your family, etcetera." Kara was nodding along as she listened. "As well as the missions you went on, significant turning points for you, your defining moment…" she trailed off, hoping that something would come back to Kara.
Something did.
"What about the name 'Agent 33'?" she asked, looking at Skye. "Whitehall would call me that all the time. Actually, so would everyone."
"'Agent 33' is your S.H.I.E.L.D. ranking. There weren't many to be numbered, and you had to be top field agents to get that." Skye said. "I think that Whitehall used that as a dig against S.H.I.E.L.D."
"That they can't even protect their own agents." Kara muttered bitterly.
"Yeah, something like that."
"Will–" Kara began, then cut herself off as she rethought her question. "Would S.H.I.E.L.D. be willing to help me now? Or am I a lost cause?"
"Kara, you will never be a lost cause." Skye leaned forward, trying to make eye contact. "As long as you want me around, I will always be here to help you."
Kara finally looked directly at Skye, smiling a little. "I want you around." Skye beamed. "I don't know what else I want, though."
"Knowing one thing that you want is a good start." Skye assured her, wanting the smile to stay on Kara's face. "What about Ward?" Kara stiffened. "I promised you that you do not have to go back there, and I will never make you. But Kara, he's in trouble, and right now the only one willing to help him is me. So please, can you tell me where he is?" she pleaded, looking at Kara imploringly.
"No." Kara shook her head.
"Kara!"
"I can't tell you. You're on your own, and if you go there, they'll take you too." Kara withdrew her hand from Skye's and crossed her arms defiantly. "And if you don't know, you don't go and you don't get hurt."
Skye's eyes were wide as her desperation leaked into her gaze. "But…what if I wasn't alone?"
"What?" Kara panicked.
"No, not take you there. What if we went back to S.H.I.E.L.D.?" she explained. "I could go in with May, Coulson, Bobbi, Hunter, and even Simmons. She's a biochemist, so she can deal with any injuries as soon as possible, and she has experience in the field."
"May…" Kara whispered fearfully.
Skye nodded awkwardly. "Yeah. But she's one of the best specialists in the world. With her, we would have less casualties on our side, and we can get to Ward quicker."
"I don't like her." Kara kept whispering. "Like she did something to me." She flicked her eyes up to look Skye in the eyes. "You know what she did. Don't you?"
Taking a deep breath, she nodded again. "It was while you were brainwashed. You and Bakshi were trying to lure Coulson into a trap by posing as General Talbot and offering a deal." Skye paused for a moment, but Kara didn't even blink. "Coulson thought it was too good to be true, and sent May ahead to see whether it was genuine. She saw it wasn't, attacked, and you took her down with a Taser while she was distracted with the nanomask that Bakshi was wearing."
"But what did she do to me?"
"I don't think I have time to explain everything now, but long story short, you had a nanomask on with May's face. You fought and she electrocuted your face with the end wires of a light fixture."
Kara was wide-eyed and breathing heavily. She reached up with a shaking hand and touched the scar on her face. "She did this to me?" Sorrowfully, Skye nodded. "Because we fought?"
"Because you had a pair of scissors at her neck. And…because she partly blames you for Bakshi torturing her."
Kara's brow furrowed. "Because I tased her?"
"Yeah. When she woke up, she was tied to a chair and Bakshi used the wires to electrocute her. Multiple times." Skye was unsure about going into this much detail about what happened to May, but she didn't want Kara to become fixed on revenge for whatever wrongs she could remember.
"I get it. It's not black and white." Kara said quietly, lightly bobbing her head as she considered what Skye had told her. "I think I can handle being around her. Maybe." She smiled at Skye's sigh of relief. "You really do know how to help people, don't you?"
Skye smiled. "Would it be modest to answer that honestly?" she half-joked.
"I don't know. What's honestly?"
Skye didn't know how to respond to that. "Um, it was sort of a joke."
"Oh." Kara frowned. She didn't find it funny.
"So, um…do you want to go back to S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Skye brought the subject back on track.
Breathing deeply, Kara agreed. "As long as you're there as well…I think it might be the best thing for me."
"Great!" Skye grinned.
"How far away is S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"Out west." Skye replied, already shutting her laptop. "But I saw Lola parked a few streets over, so Coulson should be in the area. We just have to find him."
Sitting in the sun in Lola was not May's definition of fun. She sat with her lips pursed into a flat line, her face the usual mask, and an increasing feeling of boredom. Glancing over at her every so often, Coulson amused himself by measuring how quickly May would voice her displeasure. Sure enough, it happened.
"Why are we just sitting here, Phil?" she demanded, half an hour into the waiting session. "If Skye is nearby, we would find her much more quickly if we went on foot."
"We don't need to." Coulson assured her. "Skye was angry when she left, and–"
"She might still be angry."
"Perhaps. But it's been a couple of days. And Bird City is the most likely option for Agent 33 to go."
"I'm not going to keep referring to her as Agent 33." May said firmly, cutting in again.
"We don't know her real name."
"She was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent! We still have her file somewhere, surely?"
Coulson just looked at her, an apologetic grimace distorting his mouth. May let her head drop back onto the seat in exasperation.
"Keep a watch out." He reminded her, getting a glare from May as she lifted her head up. Glancing at the wing mirror, she saw Skye in the distance. She shot straight up in her seat and looked over her shoulder to confirm what she was seeing. True enough, Skye was rounding the corner, coaxing someone to come with her.
"Phil, I see her." She remained seated, trying to see who was reluctant to walk into view. Coulson checked his own wing mirror, but his view was blocked by a couple of cars behind them. Swivelling round, he leaned towards May to get a better look. May lightly snorted. "Make it obvious, why don't you."
"She knows we're here." He said, glancing at her before he slumped back into his own seat. "And whoever's with her knows as well."
"33, probably. And she's nervous about meeting us." She agreed, watching Skye's progress in the mirror. She'd finally managed to convince the woman with her to walk towards Lola. "Definitely her." Her lips turned down at the sight of her face, albeit with a scar.
"Please don't be so prickly when she gets here." Coulson fixed her with a steady gaze. "We already drove Skye away because we were being insensitive about the situation. We don't want to do it again, and I doubt Agent 33 even trusts us. We couldn't keep her safe, and she was brainwashed because of that." He turned to face forwards again. "Besides, it was you who fried that mask in her face."
"I didn't think it would make it impossible to come off." She grumbled, still clearly displeased.
Coulson looked at her again. "Melinda." He said softly.
May tore her gaze away from the sight of Skye and Agent 33 reaching the halfway point between the corner and Lola. Coulson had an understanding, yet firm expression. "I'm not going to pretend that the torture incident didn't happen."
"And I'd doubt she'd do the same for her situation. But you need to be courteous. Her head was messed with, and she doesn't know who to trust. She's obviously latched onto Skye, and before that was with Ward. Be respectful, Agent May. We need her to trust us, and I don't want that trust to be broken." May held his gaze for a moment longer before she nodded.
"When do we get out?" she asked, once again focusing on the mirror.
"When they're almost at the car."
"Skye…" Kara began again, halting for the third time.
Skye kept her frustration well tucked away in the recesses of her mind, turning to look at the unsure woman by her side. "Kara, they know we're here. They can see us. But they're not forcing you to go with them. They want you to trust them, and vice versa, and Coulson is the sort of man who will refuse to break someone's trust unless it's absolutely necessary."
"He tried to force you to stay."
"And he failed." Skye assured her. "Coulson will learn from that mistake, and it looks like he already is. Besides, I had Fitz helping me get out, and he's probably still there. He is someone who can understand what it's like trying to find who you are all over again."
Kara kept flicking her gaze between Lola and Skye, uncertainty rife in her gaze. "They won't hurt me?"
"No." Skye laid a hand over her heart as she very firmly said this.
"They won't make me go back there?"
"I promise."
Kara now stared at Skye, her expression one of soft surprise. "You-you sounded like Grant just then."
Skye smiled. "Right now, I think that's a very good thing." Kara smiled back, and her tense shoulders relaxed slightly. "Ready?" she asked, and Kara nodded. "Okay."
Thinking playfully, Skye stuck her arm out like a gentleman offering his arm to a lady. A hint of amusement gleamed in Kara's eyes, like that was something she'd been missing, and she took the proffered arm. Together, they strolled the rest of the way to Lola, slowing down a few feet out from the rear end bumper. Both occupants turned to look at them directly, causing Kara to tense.
"It's okay. Coulson will have told her to be on her best behaviour." Skye whispered to Kara as they stopped.
"Skye!" Coulson exclaimed delightedly, getting out of Lola and striding around the car, carful to stop at a respectful distance. "Agent 33." He acknowledged with an inclination of his head.
"It's Kara." The girl in question stated, pulling a proud grin from Skye and impressed surprise from both Coulson and May.
"Kara." He corrected his earlier statement. "How did you find your name? Did you remember?"
"No, Skye told me." She said, confused, glancing at Skye for confirmation.
Skye squeezed her arm comfortingly. "It was in a S.H.I.E.L.D. file." She was also confused. "Didn't you look?"
"We did." He answered. "Couldn't find it anywhere, and I have top clearance." He focused on Kara again. "Just goes to show how great Skye is at what she does."
Kara smiled genuinely, turning that smile onto Skye with affection. Skye returned it, then both women looked at May. The Deputy Director, of course, was straight to the point.
"I'm sorry for your scar." She said. Anyone passing by would've thought it to be an awkward family reunion. In a way, it was.
Kara looked at the ground before she forced her head back up to look May in the eyes. "Skye told me that you were fighting for your life."
"And you were brainwashed when you tased me."
Silence descended upon the small group for several awkward moments. May was the first to break it. Skye and Coulson outright stared at her in shock.
"An understanding?" she asked, holding her hand out.
Kara nervously approached the unmoving woman and reached out to shake it. "Yeah." She whispered. Quickly, she retreated back to Skye's side.
"Well," Coulson stepped a little closer. "If you two are ready, shall we head back? Kara, Eric might be a bit pretentious with issuing you a lanyard, but it should give you decent access around the base." Kara and Skye glanced at each other, then nodded simultaneously.
"One thing, AC." Skye blurted out. "We need to save Ward."
"Of course." Coulson didn't even skip a beat, which stunned Skye. "Fitz showed me the footage. No one gets away with that." With a final tight smile, he retraced his steps to the driver's seat, Skye and Kara jumping into the back. May slipped into shotgun.
"Oh my god, they're being reasonable." Kara murmured in Skye's ear, causing both girls to laugh.
A/N: What do you all think? Anything I could improve on? Reviews, please! :3