Previously: After getting her chance on a computer, Skye found out about the Disney World incident. Since Wolfe never told her anything about it she now suspects he may be hiding something.

Chapter Nine

"Great, another crappy hotel. Oh check that, motel," Skye complained.

Maybe she had been complaining too much; the last thing she wanted was to raise suspicion from such a stupid move. Mental note: stop being a little bitch, Skye, she thought to herself.

"It's an hourly rated one. We shouldn't be here too long, but considering we've been out all night I thought we could get some rest."

Skye wanted so bad to scoff. How could she get sleep? She had no idea what this man was up to or what he wanted her for. In her heart she desperately hoped this was all some sort of misunderstanding. The evidence wasn't as clear as it was with Ward. Oh, there was definitely evidence he was hiding something, but what was SHIELD without its secrets?

Of course she couldn't just flat out ask him. Her current plan was fairly simple: get away, then get far away, then call him. Quickly. Best-case scenario he could explain himself and everything would be back on track, though she sincerely doubted this.

If not, she'd be on the run from god knew how many people who were after her. The tally seemed to get higher every day. On the run and in search of her team, who could be anywhere. With any luck, she may find them within a few weeks. Maybe channels that Wolfe had told her were closed from them going dark were actually open. If only she'd known while she'd been at the computer…

They'd driven for hours after he picked her up and it was already late afternoon. In that time she hadn't had a chance to get away from him, but she was able to get onto his phone for a moment. It wasn't a smart phone but she decided to turn it onto airplane mode. At least she could cut off any communication, if he had any.

"A pink, hourly rated motel," Skye stated, taking a look around with disdain. "Remind me not to sit down."

"I did that last time and it didn't do any good," Wolfe chuckled. "You're pretty stubborn, kiddo."

Skye bit her lip. She wanted so bad to believe this man was genuine.

She was hugging herself nervously, observing the room, when she suddenly turned around. "Hey, do you still have the scissors from when we stitched up my hand?"

"Think so. Any particular reason?" he asked.

"I want bangs," she stated.

Wolfe frowned, puzzled. "You want to cut your hair?"

"Yep," Skye nodded.

"And what brought this on?" he asked, and Skye shrugged.

"It's just something I can control, I guess," she mumbled, and that much was actually true. "Also, I'd recommend not questioning it when a girl wants to change her style. Just go along with it and remember to tell her how pretty she looks when she's done."

Wolfe laughed again, the wrinkles in his face showing her he was one to have done that his entire life, proving that his cheery disposition at least wasn't a rouse. Well, depending on how far back he'd been undercover. If he was.

He began digging through his bag, a bag that Skye knew to hold many weapons that he hadn't once offered her. Of course, he hadn't denied them either. As they were traveling together and the bag was reachable to both of them she hadn't questioned it. But now it seemed so obvious.

He brought out the sewing scissors and placed them in Skye's outreached hand. She started towards the bathroom.

"Need some help?" Wolfe called after her. "I know I've got pretty big man hands but I could probably figure it out. With your hand hurt and all…"

Skye smiled, her arm wrapped around the bathroom door. "Got two," she stated simply, waving her good hand as though proving it, just before closing herself in.

She placed her hands on either side of the sink, the unwrapped one clinging onto the scissors. At least she had some semblance of a weapon, meager as it may be. Now just to wait until the opportune moment.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she realized she actually should cut her hair to keep up her story. That was fine; she was ready for a change anyways. Even if she wasn't, it would be quite a trivial thing to be fretting about in relativity to the rest of the happenings in her life.

Skye cut the front of her hair straight across, snipping a bit unevenly after that. She'd done this many times before. It wasn't the first time in her life she wanted emo bangs.

"Not bad…" she mumbled to herself, before sighing. She sat down on the toilet seat, avoiding going back into the room. She took a few moments to let herself get some composure. Not that this was nearly as much of a surprise as Ward - she'd known him much better and now she already had felt what it was like to be betrayed - she still had had a moment to herself before she had to go out and play him.

With any luck, she wouldn't have to keep it up with Wolfe nearly as long.

Apparently she did have luck, because when Skye walked out of the bathroom Wolfe was already asleep. He was lying on the couch in fact, as this motel only had one bed in each room. Perfect gentleman, seemingly.

Skye crept by him, the second time she'd done this very thing to this man in the past day, though this time if she woke him it wasn't just his sleep schedule at stake.

Once she got a few feet passed the couch, which was more near the bathroom and the bed nearer the door, she bolted, careening open the door with the intention to run.

She couldn't run.

Right there, in front of her when she opened the old, crusty motel door was Graviton.

Her eyes grew wide and she barely had a chance for her gasp of shock to leave her lips before she fell sideways, landing face down on the wall.

To her, it felt like the wall was now the floor and the same type of pressure she'd encountered in the shallow end of the pool was pushing upon her back. Not just her back actually, more like everywhere. She couldn't even open her mouth as her jaw clamped shut with the force of it.

Wolfe sprang off of the couch, not a sliver of surprise present in his face. Skye realized he hadn't even really been sleeping.

"Thanks, Franklin. I thought she may have suspected something," Wolfe told him. "I mean I let the kid onto a computer. Stupid of me."

"I no longer go by that name. It's Graviton now," he growled, and Skye felt the pressure on her body build. She squeezed her eyes shut with a shudder.

"Hey, are you hurting her?" she heard Wolfe ask. He almost sounded concerned. "Alright, that's enough, put her down."

"You're the one who asked for my help," Graviton said, and Skye managed to open her eyes enough to see him walk into the room. The door flew shut behind him, with seemingly no one there. "All I wanted was to get a peak at her in return."

"You can take all the samples you want from her, just stop hurting her. Don't you hear her?"

Hear her?

That's when Skye realized she'd been whimpering, or whining. Some kind of pathetic noise was coming from her throat. The feeble gesture matched the stupid tears she could feel forming in her eyes.

"Fine," said Hall, and she could feel the pressure begin to decrease.

"Wait." Wolfe walked over to her. She struggled to fix him a glare when his eyes caught hers, though she wasn't sure how fierce it looked when she was on the wall breathing quick as a rabbit.

He lifted up the back of her long, blue flannel shirt, grabbing the scissors she'd had tucked in the back of her leggings. She was slightly perturbed he knew exactly where she'd hidden them, but supposed without pockets there weren't too many good guesses.

"Wouldn't want to fall on these. Could be messy," he said, waving the scissors. "Alright, let's get her down."

Graviton merely waved a hand and Skye crashed to the floor in a heap, immediately heaving and coughing as she couldn't seem to catch her breath. She was so focused on her hacking, she barely noticed Wolfe guiding her to the bed. Once she did, she viciously began to try and wriggle out of his grasp, punching and clawing at him. It didn't matter. He was trained, stronger, and wasn't currently recovering from having the wind knocked out of him. Though she at least had a brief glimpse of satisfaction when a punch hit its mark on the bridge of his nose.

"I hate you," she rasped as he handcuffed her good hand to the bedpost. His eyes met with hers and she thought he looked truly hurt by the comment.

Good.

Wolfe sighed but had a slight smile playing on his face, as though he had a secret he was keeping to himself.

"I guess all kids say that to their parents."

"Newsflash! We're not undercover anymore," Skye spat, annoyed by the comment. "And 'we' aren't a 'we'. I don't even know who the hell you are!"

"Skye, I'm still me. You just have to let me explain things."

"Explain why you lied to me? Why you're working with a freaking super villain? Oh! Planning to pawn me off, is that it?"

"No, kiddo, I'd never-"

"Stop with that stupid nickname. I'm not a child, I'm twenty-five years old!"

"You say that like it's proving your point." Wolfe laughed, and Skye just stared in disbelief. He stopped. "I'm sorry, I should really read the room."

"No, you should really untie someone if you're trying to get on their good side!"

"Not just yet," he told her as he set down the scissors. "You're not a prisoner Skye, I just don't want you to leave with the wrong impression."

She scoffed. "Not a prisoner?" Skye shook her hand vigorously and the cuff clattered loudly against the bedpost. "Looks like you're the one with the wrong impression, Wolfe!"

"She is a feisty one, I'll give her that," Graviton said, stepping up. Wolfe nodded.

"I know. Definitely a fire in her," he said appraisingly, as if he approved of it or something.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Skye shouted.

"I'm sorry," Wolfe said with apparent sincerity. "Just give us a few minutes, it will all make sense soon. By the way, your bangs do look very pretty."

Skye opened her mouth but no words came out. She didn't even know how to respond to such a condescending comment, her wit deciding to take a temporary road trip. Instead, she sat down firmly on the bed and turned her back to the men so they couldn't see the angry tears forming in her eyes. The petulant behavior was only proving Wolfe right, but she couldn't help it.

She stared at the wall with her arms crossed, listening. Wolfe sighed.

"Could you give us a minute? I need to explain myself to her… this isn't how I wanted this to go."

"I'm aware of how you wished for everything to happen," replied Hall. "I hope this complication does not disrupt anything between us?"

"No, of course not. You'll get what we agreed upon."

Skye blinked away the tears finally pooling over in her eyes, wondering if her blood was the price they were talking about. She looked down at her cuffed hand. This situation was getting more and more like Ward's betrayal every minute, not that handcuffs were all that unique to when you caught a prisoner.

How could she have been so stupid? She'd known this guy for all of a couple hours before she decided to put every ounce of trust she had in him. Sure, he helped her out with Deathlok, but was she really so naïve and desperate for a white knight to save her that she didn't think he couldn't have another agenda?

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Though, out of all her current woes, the worst feeling was not knowing if her team was safe anymore. She knew Wolfe at least hadn't been lying about Fitz' recovery; he was in some of the pictures from whatever happened in Florida. But anything could have happened afterwards. Plus, the fact that he'd gained their trust meant he could have crossed them off easily.

Like he could do at any moment with her.

"Someone's here," Graviton suddenly stated, causing Skye to turn her head to get a look at the door.

Wolfe walked over to the door and looked through the peephole.

"What…" he muttered, just before pulling the door open. "What are you doing here?"

Deathlok didn't answer. Instead he just walked inside straight passed Wolfe and the older man shut the door behind them.

"I hadn't gotten an order or update in quite some time. I thought I'd come check in physically."

Skye rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air. "Of course, let's just mix in some more similarities between this and when Ward kidnapped me!" she exclaimed, before adding, "The first time."

All three men were staring at her and she felt mildly embarrassed for the outburst. She slouched back down and stared at her hands, thinking only for a moment before gasping with realization. Her eyes snapped up to look at Wolfe.

"You have Ace?" she shouted. "You're the one that took him from the start, aren't you?"

"Skye, I-"

"You sent Mike and Superman's evil twin after me?" Skye asked, but she could read the answer as clear as day on Wolfe's face. "Oh my god, you did! What the hell? They tried to kill me!"

"They did not try to kill you, they were trying to make it look like they were trying to kill you," Wolfe clarified, and Skye couldn't help but shake her head in disbelief.

"Well, they did a damn good job!" she shouted.

Wolfe began walking over to her with open palms, as if trying to subdue her. "Look, this will all be more clear when I explain it."

"Then explain it!" she screamed.

"I WILL!" he shouted, the sudden anger and volume in his voice startling her so that she flinched inwardly. Wolfe stared at her, breathing deeply for a couple seconds. "In a few moments I will explain everything, but for now you need to be a good girl. So sit down, shut up, and be patient."

Skye straightened herself to spite him, before hissing, "Like I'm going to listen to you."

"You're testing my patience Skye," he growled at her, and she rolled her eyes in response.

"Oh, well we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

"No, you wouldn't," he replied sharply, his face right in her own now. "I don't want to be the bad guy Skye, but I will do whatever's necessary for your co-operation."

Each word was carefully pronounced with such dangerous tones Skye's stare of defiance near wavered. Gone was his cheery demeanor. He didn't look furious, more like he was frustrated, and maybe exasperated, as he waved a pointed finger in front of her eyes.

"So stop acting up and do as I say."

He dropped his pointed hand and Skye began to nod, eyebrows raised.

"Wow," she replied, letting a snarky smile grace her lips. "I'm actually kind of astounded you don't realize that you already are the bad guy." She chuckled. "Honestly, it's almost impressive to be in that much denial."

He could use all the intimidation tactics he wanted to, but Skye didn't respond well to being told to sit down and shut up. The nuns had always told her "quit while you're ahead," or "don't push too far," but that just wasn't her, and she was used to the repercussions that came with it. Maybe she was being stupid, or proud, but she wouldn't give him an inch just yet.

She waited patiently for him to make good on his threat, to retaliate, but the blow never came. Instead, he combed his fingers through his blonde locks with a loud sigh of exasperation.

"Jesus…" he mumbled, ignoring her remark and spinning around so he was no longer facing her. He whipped his small low-tech phone out of his pocket and put it up to his ear, only to bring it down and stare at it. He pressed a few more buttons, brought it back up, and down again.

"God, you are clever," he chuckled, looking at her once again to see if she'd received his compliment. His face fell when he saw what she was doing: using her bad hand to try and reach the scissors Wolfe had left on the dresser. He nudged them with the back of his hand from nearly within her reach to just a few inches too far, almost tauntingly.

Skye brought her hand back, trying to hide her discouraged look and instead responded to his praise. "So you can see that it's only a matter of time before I outsmart you."

He shook his head with disappointment. "Not like that, kiddo. Pointless stunts like that will only get your other hand chained to the bed."

"That would be putting us at a pretty creepy level of bondage, Wolfe."

The man's nose wrinkled up in disgust at the comment. "Don't talk like that, Skye."

"Again, not going to do what you say, so I don't know why you insist on ordering me around," she informed him, her voice shrill with annoyance.

"Your daughter is clearly insubordinate," observed Graviton suddenly.

Wolfe's face turned beat red immediately and Skye could tell he was furious about the comment. She merely rolled her eyes.

"Why do we keep bringing that up?" Skye shouted. "It was just a stupid cover! And I'm obviously done playing house with you."

Hall looked at Wolfe with a puzzled expression, though he looked intrigued. "She doesn't know?"

"No!" shouted Wolfe, shaking his head furiously. "Of course she doesn't know!"

Skye, feeling dreadfully out of the loop now, decided to look over at Mike. As usual, he was looking straight ahead dutifully, but somehow, he seemed different than before. He looked renewed… maybe hopeful.

Or something. At least, that's what it seemed like to her.

Wolfe walked up to the bed, snapping Skye out of her observations of Deathlok. He knelt in front of her and for a moment Skye thought he was going to take her hand. She made sure they were both pulled back to her sides.

"There is something I have to tell you," he said heavily. "Something important."

"We finally getting to the long awaited explanation?" she asked.

He ignored her sarcastic attitude, continuing in his weighted mood. "You know that you aren't from here. You know that you're an 084, an object of unknown origin."

"Yeah… are you going to get to something I don't know any time soon?" she asked snappily.

"Yes. What you know is wrong," he said firmly, and Skye's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You're not an 084, because I know exactly where you came from. I came from there too."

Skye wasn't stupid. Despite her status of a high school drop out, she was actually pretty smart. By this point, her mind had already sewn the clues together and had a pretty good idea of what he was going to say before he said it. But that didn't mean she was prepared for it.

"And I know this… because I'm your father."

A/n: How you like them apples?

I have NEVER edited a chapter for so long. Oh my god. I'm just done. Thank you so much Shadow375 for proofreading and helping me out! (PS- I'll have know I made her flannel shirt blue for you!)