Previously: Skrulls disguised as Coulson, Triplett, May and Ward, tried to trick Skye into thinking they were her teammates so they could take her with them. She went, but only to play along as she knows who they really are due to her powers that the aliens are unaware she has.

Chapter Forty Six

"Where are we going again?" asked Skye.

"Near the Spanish Steps," explained Coulson, who, of course, was not really Coulson. In fact, the only person who was real in this little group field trip was Skye, based on what her powers told her. And it was for that very reason this wasn't exactly a comfortable excursion.

Then there were their feelings, which were pretty far off from what she would presume her real teammates to be. No worry or determination present, but casual ease. Happiness. Excitement. Oh, and lest Skye forget those bloodthirsty feelings directed towards her, present on each of them.

Meanwhile, Skye's own emotions were probably more like the former. Worried, but determination was taking a lead role. And she planned to let it.

"Spanish steps? And here I thought we were in Italy." She grinned, trying to put on a façade of something she'd kid about.

All it earned her was a glare from the fake Ward.

"Are you really making jokes at a time like this?" he sneered.

She cleared her throat. "Ok, maybe inappropriate. But I've seriously never heard of them. Got to admit though, I don't know a lot about Rome."

"Then why bother asking where we're going if you don't know the city in the first place?" May snapped. Skye felt a little pang of hurt at the tone. Stupid brain and logic not listening to her: They're not real.

They'd picked up a car that had been abandoned, as much of the city was evacuated. Though evading the cops a few times made it clear that the Skrull May's driving was near as good as the real May's was.

But the Italian car they were in? Not the biggest thing. And being wedged between two Skrulls pretending to be two manly and muscled specialists was not the most fun thing in the world to do.

She mentally added that to her list of reasons she was uncomfortable.

They parked the little red Fiat right in front of a bunch of steps, which Skye then assumed were the Spanish Steps.

"The Spanish Steps," exclaimed Coulson, gesturing to the stairs as she worked her way out of the car after not-Ward. "But what we're really interested in is the Santissima Trinità dei Monti, more often just called the Trinità dei Monti, which is the church at the top," he said, and paused. "I know all the names and stuff because I like history," he added, as though he felt the need to explain himself.

Maybe they needed a new Skrull actor.

If they were working off of personality profiles and not actual memory scans like the aliens had used when they'd copied Fitz, they might be more alert that Skye could figure out they were imposters. She'd have to be extra careful.

They walked into the church, which was pretty nice as far as churches go, but nothing spectacular. It definitely looked old though. If Coulson were truly there, she expected he'd be having a field day right about now.

What she didn't expect was the large amount of people in the far end of the building.

The first few pew rows were filled to the brim, a fair group of people seeking refuge inside the place, and seeming to want to be as far from the door as possible. A priest was giving a sermon at the front alter.

They'd gotten a few startled glances at first, but with the realization that Skye and her crew were seemingly harmless, the priest kept preaching and the crowd kept watching.

"I thought they were all supposed to be evacuated?" asked May, with notable annoyance.

"Must have thought faith could protect them more than leaving," Skye said.

"Idiots…" muttered Ward with distaste. The real Ward might have thought somewhat along the lines of the same thing – she at least knew he didn't believe in god -, but she didn't believe he'd say, or even think, it so plainly. And rudely. Then again, she'd known the real real Ward for about two weeks, so maybe he would have.

Skye was getting so sick of deception.

"Well girl," said SkrullTriplett, "better get to work."

She looked around. "Seriously?" she said, trying so hard to keep an attitude she'd really have in the situation. "The place the GPS is going to work is a house of God?"

"There appeared to be just a few places near here that were out of range for whatever happened. Only for the satellites but not the power, and this was one of them," said Coulson. "Just try it."

Skye had to stifle any remarks gnawing at her to get out. Slowly, she started to set up her computer in the back of the church, near the doors.

Why did they want her to do this anyway? Why weren't they just taking her back to their ship to try the ritual again, or if they didn't think it would work now, even killing her on the spot?

She didn't know, and though she was definitely interested in the reason, at the moment she was just grateful for it. Because having a one-up on them was giving her a fighting chance.

"Well, apparently it's an honest to God miracle," Skye said, her laptop blinking in front of her. "Because you're right: GPS is up and running."

"Can you find Dr. Hall?" asked the Coulson fake.

"Hmm. Satellite images are down over most of Rome. I'll see if there's any chatter though; maybe we can find him through social media of people already evacuated. It'll take some time."

"Oh c'mon, I know you can do this fast, girl," said Triplett.

"It's not that simple. There's a lot of data to move through."

"But you're the best at this computer stuff, girl!"

Skye sighed.

Triplett was definitely the worst fake.

She was just about to make another rebuttal, probably having to face another 'girl' nickname from the over-zealous Triplett Skrull, when there was a small click in the area.

The lights turned on.

Ok, so it was daytime and the change wasn't huge, but it was significant. Maybe she could contact the team now!

First things first: ditching the aliens.

"What happened?" asked Ward.

"Digital topographic imaging restored all over the city," Skye explained. She didn't really want to explain anything to these people, but the more she played along the better. She typed for just a few more seconds. "If we give that a few moments, the trace should be able to find him. Good timing too, because I'm having a nature calls moment."

"What?" asked Coulson.

"Bathroom," she clarified.

Ward stood up. "I'll take you."

She allowed herself to laugh. "Thanks Ward, but I think I can manage on my own."

Oh, that was good. Finally some anxiety was setting in from the guys. About time the jerks had a negative emotion. Perhaps thinking it would reveal their cover, they allowed Skye to walk over to the corner bathroom all on her own.

Maybe keeping suspicion low was why they'd let her keep her phone as well.

She closed herself into a stall, quickly typing out the message: I'm with skrulls that look like Coulson, May, Trip and ward. Stay with graviton and I'll bring the skrulls to you. We can use the weapon on both. I'll try to contact again soon.

She hit send, and an error popped up. She hit send again. And again.

It didn't make sense. Her computer was working, why wouldn't her cell phone?

Around the twentieth time that it didn't work Skye gave up, resigning to send them a message from her computer. It would be hard with them watching… but maybe she could find some tricks up her sleeve. Still, not ideal.

With a somewhat frustrated groan she exited the stall, pocketing her phone as she did.

A middle-aged woman drying her hands caught sight of Skye and chuckled. "Oh, my dear, phones will not work in here," she said in a light Italian accent, and a light yellow aura filled with amusement. Even though Skye wasn't exactly hip to Italian fashions, it seemed that the lady was wearing kind of an odd outfit with a cross around her neck-

Oh. She was a nun.

"What?" asked Skye. "Why not?"

"Our priest has set up a cell phone jamming signal in this parish."

Skye's mouth dropped open. She thought maybe the Skrulls had messed with her phone, but priests? Priests were blocking technology airways?

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Father says that the only calls to be heard during mass should be from God."

No wonder the aliens had brought her here. Even if the communications came back on, she wouldn't be able to reach her real team. And not reaching her team would be impertinent to their plan of not knowing there was two of everyone. Because, even with how idiotic they obviously thought Skye to be, they'd have to know that would raise some suspicion.

"Well, I'd like to be making a distress call right about now!" Skye told her.

The nun was puzzled, dimming to a dark purple. "Distress? Is something troubling you?"

Full disclosure? Sure, Skye would try out the truth. "I'm actually sort of, well, you could call it kidnapped, at the moment. This is my only time away from my captors and your cellphone-blocking thingamajig is stopping me from contacting the people I need to get out of this! So yeah, you could say I'm distressed."

"Oh… I'm sorry," said the nun simply. Like she'd bumped into Skye's shoulder in a crowd, not like she'd just explained she was in a hostage situation. "I can step outside and call the police for you."

"No, can't have the cops," Skye said adamantly. "I have to play along or… people are going to be hurt. But… you can help me. Do you have a phone?"

"Yes, but it is downstairs in-"

"Take mine," Skye insisted, shoving the phone into her hands. "Please send this message for me. It's a matter of life or death. Seriously."

The nun stared at her. Skye could feel that she was skeptical about the situation, and a little scared too, but Skye's distraught face must have won her over. "I will do my best."

Skye nodded. "Thank you."

She exited the bathroom, but halted in her steps soon after. Ward was leaning just outside.

Skye stifled a gasp and forced a smile. "Thought I told you I didn't need a bathroom buddy."

He shrugged, arms crossed casually. "Can't be too careful. You've got a lot of people that care about you Skye." He brought his hand to her face, letting his thumb caress her cheek in an affectionate gesture.

God, he was toying with her. It made her want to scream.

"Right," she said. "How about we check on that trace?"

They walked back over to her "team", all of them eagerly awaiting her. Trip still had the creepy smile on his face that never seemed to go away. Seriously, could they not find someone else for his role?

Skye looked over her laptop fleetingly. "And Hall is at… the Forum. Hey, I actually do know that place."

"Good work Skye," said Coulson, and she could tell the Skrull was uneasy. Whether it was due to being unsure of what to do or he just didn't like having to congratulate Skye, she wasn't quite sure. "I suppose we should take care of that, then."

"Yes," agreed May. "And while we go to the Forum, someone should stay here with Skye."

Skye frowned. "Whoa whoa, who says I'm staying here?"

"Common sense," said Wardposter.

Wow. This Ward had a lot of sass.

"Um, I'd like to counter that wonderful argument," she said with an arguably equal amount of attitude. "Satellites are back. Comms are back. I should get closer to the action. Maybe even get back to van with Fitzsimmons… either way, it just seems pointless to stay here."

"Stay here?"

All the Skrulls plus one hacker turned to look at the voice. It came from a nun, none other than the woman she'd asked the help of in the restroom.

"You cannot stay here," she continued. "Our parish is very against the technology you have out here. I would politely ask if you will leave."

Coulson smiled. "Of course."

"And please," the nun continued, and slapping a hand down next to Skye's computer she gestured to the setup with her other, "Do not forget any of this."

The woman lifted her hand and Skye's eyes widened. She had returned her phone. Skye honestly wasn't expecting to get it back, and after telling someone she was being held hostage, it must have taken a lot of bravery to do such a thing.

Skye wished she could act more grateful, but really, the woman had just kicked her out. Still… that's what she was aiming to convince the Skrulls of.

Skye smiled smugly.

"I'm guessing we're going to do this together, then? Really, it would be stupid to not have all your field agents with you anyway, leaving one behind just to babysit me."

SkrullCoulson nodded, though not without reluctance. "Fine."

Skye smiled triumphantly. She could do that. She'd just won a battle, after all. Even in the Skrulls' eyes. And it had happened in a church too.

If she made it out of this, maybe she'd take up praying again.

A/n: "The only calls to be heard during mass should be from God," is a direct quote from some Italian priest that has cell phone jamming equipment in his church. So. Yes that's real.

If anyone's confused as to why the Skrulls are worse actors than when they were playing Fitz for the first half of the story, it's because they never scanned these people. In this story, the Skrulls can copy anyone physically, but won't have their memories and attitudes down unless they scan them. They have only scanned Fitz and Skye. The reason SkrullSkye was caught is because, though she had Skye's attitude and memories, the memories only lasted up to her scan which was a couple days old.

Ohhh I probably just made that more confusing. Whatevs I tried. Thank you for reading!