Author's Note:

Wow, as I received an amazing response on the first chapter, I've decided to post the second chapter earlier than I planned! I can't say that the next will be posted as quickly though.

Thank you so much to those who reviewed, fav'ed and followed this story already, I'm overwhelmed!

Set during, Season 1, episode 13: TRACKS.

Shout out to my amazing beta, ThisVioletOfMine.

May stood with Fitzsimmons and Ward; they had been summoned for a meeting with Coulson, and were ready for their next mission.

"Ian Quinn," Coulson announced as he walked into the room, Skye right behind him.

May's gaze moved from Skye to Coulson in a heartbeat at his words. "You found him." She stated, ready to jump into action.

"No," Coulson replied, looking at her. She had assumed incorrectly. "But we think we know how we can." His response was vague; however, what followed was less vague as he went into detail. "Skye tracked down an invoice from one of his shell companies. He made a big purchase recently."

"$10 million big," Skye clarified, looking from Coulson to May to the rest of the team.

"Any idea what it is?" Simmons questioned when Skye's eyes met hers.

"No clue, but it was designed and built by Cybertech, Inc., a small firm that deals in advanced technology and research," She exclaimed in reply, hitting the screen and activating it to show the company's logo.

"Which is where this gets interesting," Coulson said, leaning forward to make everything sound more dramatic than it probably was. "They've hired a private-security outfit to transport the purchase… former military, ex-mercs."

"Lot of muscle to move one package," Ward commented. They did seem to be going over the top for this package- it must be important.

"And they know S.H.I.E.L.D's got eyes on Quinn," Coulson informed them.

"Which is why they're transporting it old-school," Skye added. May glanced between them; they must have just been discussing this before bringing it to the team, since Skye seemed to know everything without even needing to look at the screen.

"On a train, through the Italian countryside, from Verona to Zagreb...very rural, very isolated." He continued.

"And you think Quinn's on that train?" May asked, knowing it sounded more like a statement; she wasn't one who asked questions.

"No, but I believe they're delivering the item to Quinn himself," Coulson theorized, looking directly at her. He continued, "We got our intel from Italian authorities who have been monitoring the situation."

May resisted the small temptation to tilt her head to the side as she asked, "And they didn't mind us taking over?"

"I asked very nicely," Coulson replied with a small smile, nearly a smirk. He obviously didn't ask politely. "If everything goes as planned, Cybertech's security team won't even know we were on the train."

"So, we're going in undercover," Ward commented, understanding exactly what Coulson was getting at.

May sighed, a hint of irritation on her face, "I hate undercover." She announced.

Coulson ignored her comment and explained everybody's rolls in as much detail as they needed. Once he was finished, May returned to the cockpit to edit the direction of the plane so they could get onto the train. She knew she would have to change before they got there, but that would only take her a minute. She heard somebody walk into the cockpit after her once she was seated-usually the only person who ever dared to disturb her was Coulson, although since Skye had found out she was her mother, she had been more confident in approaching May at random times-during her meditation, in the cockpit, and whilst she was eating.

May had to admit, Skye had taken the news better than she could have imagined, and she had become a lot more disciplined and controlled. "Can I join you?" Skye asked her.

May gave a simple nod, "You may." Skye sat down and looked out at the view. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Skye replied shortly. "You?"

"I'm fine," May replied. There had been many occasions when Skye would approach her, sit down and just stay there for a random period of time before leaving. She knew that Skye would have loads of questions and was honestly expecting to be bombarded with them, but she wasn't. Skye had been rather quiet, a bit unlike herself; she supposed she didn't want to overstep the boundaries. "Ask." She half-ordered.

"What was my dad like?" Skye asked instantly, the question flowing from her lips.

May quirked an eyebrow; this was the first mention of Skye's father, as she seemed to forget about that part of the equation. May wasn't sure why that hadn't been one of her first questions, but regardless, she flipped a switch and answered truthfully, "He was a hunter, mainly of animals, but did not rule out taking out a human or organisation for one reason or another. He was mostly a survivalist, so if anybody attacked or threatened him, he'd take action. He liked being known as the 'Best Hunter Ever'"

"So… he was a bad man…" Skye commented, a hint of sadness touching her voice, her head dropping slightly. Even though they had established that he wasn't a good guy in their first conversation before May revealed she was her mother, she supposed that it was still new information to her.

"He loved you very much. There were good parts of him, too," May informed her, glancing at her daughter to see Skye looking at her.

"What was his-" Skye stopped suddenly as the cockpit door opened.

"Skye?" Coulson asked, confused, obviously not expecting to find her in here-it was probably a bigger surprise that she was sitting down and having a casual conversation. Coulson had never managed to sit down in the cockpit.

"I was just… asking May about the mission," Skye lied. "I'll leave you two," she added as she stood up and walked straight out of the cockpit without any hesitation.

"What was that about?" Coulson asked as he went to sit down. May sent a glare at him and he stood back up.

"She had a question, and I answered it," May answered.

Coulson dropped the issue, knowing that he wouldn't get anything out of her unless she offered it or felt like she needed to tell him.

"I know you hate undercover work, but it is the best option."

"Ward and I could do it- why are you insisting on taking the kids? Something could go wrong," May spoke.

Coulson looked at her. "Fitzsimmons and Skye have been on many missions before. They can handle it." He waited a few moments, but only received silence. "This is the best option, and if something does go wrong, we'll all be there."

May hit a switch, but remained silent. She didn't have anything to say and she wasn't going to say something just for the sake of making conversation. She was already annoyed with Coulson for making her go undercover.

May walked through the train with her head held high, Ward trailing behind her with all of their pretend luggage.

"First class?" Ward asked one of the train officials in another language. They received directions and then refused to be shown to their booth- neither of them really cared for any kind of undercover work and the sooner they got there, the sooner they could stop pretending.

May walked straight past without saying a word and made her way to the booth.

Upon entering, she gave it a once over and looked out the window to efficiently judge how fast the train was going. After Ward had walked in, she removed her oversized fur coat to reveal the tight leather suit she was wearing underneath-she was ready for the mission.

"That looks cozy," Ward commented, giving her a quick look up and down as he unloaded the luggage.

A small smirk made its way to her lips as she slipped the hair band off her wrist and tied her hair back. She liked the thought of him being slightly distracted-it wasn't often she felt sexy nowadays. But, regardless of their relationship, she stuck to business. "Once I've located the package, I'll let you know where to place the tracker."

"Seem like things are getting personal?" Ward asked her and she instantly looked up with a small glare- where was he going with this? "I'm talking about our operations," he clarified with a smirk playing on his lips.

"Ah," May verbalised her understanding.

"Look, I know that Coulson was put through hell, but…" he started as he pulled off his tie, taking longer than her to change. "He hasn't been the same since."

May opened the cupboard, looking away from him with a hint of a frown gracing her lips-any difference in Coulson is not good, she knew that, and she knew she would probably have to contact Fury about Ward's observations.

"And I don't know what he said to Skye, but she's different, too," Ward continued to May's back. Her eyes shot up at the mention of Skye, but otherwise she didn't react.

"How so?" She questioned.

"Driven, focused… she was held up for days trying to track Quinn; seems like Coulson got her on a warpath… seems personal." Ward said, completing his observation.

May was not amused with what he was saying; if Skye had been acting more driven and focused, it was because of May, because she told her who she really was. It had nothing to do with Coulson. "It is personal." She replied, noting that he had now removed his shirt, too. "The clairvoyant had him tortured." She reminded him, a little bit harsher than her usual bored tone of voice. She cleared up her voice, so there was less emotion. "Quinn's the only person we know who's connected to all of this."

"We both know that personal urges can adversely affect tactical decisions," Ward told her with an implication in his tone.

"Hmm," May acknowledged as she looked directly at him, not even bothering to pay any attention to his bare torso. "That's why I don't have any- you should do the same." She advised. However, she knew that was a lie-because now she had a personal connection to Skye and she knew that she would change her tactics if she were in any danger. She put on her goggles, getting ready to head out and complete the mission.

"Really?" Ward asked with a very amused expression. "Do you think Coulson would take that excuse if he found out about us?" he questioned.

"Took it okay when I told him," May commented before turning around and opening the blinds. As she opened the window she heard his confused voice.

"Wait, you told him?"

She continued her movements, turning around and placing her hands on the top of the window.

"Yep," she answered shortly before pulling herself up and climbing out of the window to get on top of the train.

May hadn't been there for long when Coulson gave her the signal. "Copy that." She replied before turning on her goggles so she could efficiently follow the target. She stood up slowly to ensure she was able to keep her balance on the rapidly moving train. "Following the target to the package." She began walking at the same speed as the target.

"Great, we see what you see," Skye spoke in her ear.

"Alright, May, Cybertech cases are usually light with a tungsten polymer to prevent scanning, so it should appear black on your infrared," Fitz added, using scientist words, but still getting his point across.

May didn't respond verbally, but lifted one hand to her goggles as she looked around, searching for the package.

"Bingo!" Fitz exclaimed a second after she spotted the object. "Eyes on the package, fourth seat from the back."

She kept an eye on the package for a moment as it was lifted up. "Ward, you're up." She informed him through the comms and waited a second for a reply, but none came. "Ward?" She repeated. "Something's wrong-Cybertech's leaving the dining cart-Ward! Coulson!" She said, trying to get somebody's attention, but was suddenly distracted when a shot was fired right past her. She looked up to see a male in a suit half on the top of the train pointing a gun at her.

He fired again as she crouched down. As he fired a third time, she ejected her parachute; it was the only way she could think of to avoid getting shot. She flew up for a moment before landing on her feet, one hand touching the ground to keep her balance before she looked up at the train with anger and pulled off her 'chute. As she stood up fully, she tried her comms once more. "Fitz, Skye-can anybody read me?"

When no response came, May sighed deeply and looked around at her surroundings, taking a few steps towards the tracks. There, she noticed a figure lying on the ground. It only took one additional step towards it for her to realize it was Coulson; she instantly ran towards him, crouching down when she was close enough to him. Her eyes scanned over his body; there were no obvious injuries- however, he seemed frozen. Her left hand moved to his as she checked his pulse, a relieved breath leaving her as she closed her eyes for a split second, glad that he was still alive-she didn't want to even think about losing him. A smile graced her lips for a split second before she looked down and tried to shake him awake- to no avail. He was out cold.

She then ran over to Ward, checking his eyes to realize that he was also frozen, "I've got to get you guys to safety." She spoke aloud; she had been talking more since telling Skye who she was- nobody had seemed to notice yet. She took off running, her aim to find a vehicle that she could use to transport Coulson and Ward. After a few minutes she located a dirty, washed out old truck and ran towards it. She searched for a key for a few moments before hot-wiring it-she had the intention of returning it. Eventually.

A smile tugged her lips as she successfully got it working; however, as she went to stand up, she felt the presence of another person and the smile disappeared.

"We've been looking for you, Agent May," the voice came.

With a quick glance, she noted that she was surrounded. With the amount of guns pointed at her-both short and long distance-she knew that she couldn't fight her way out right now. She would have to wait for the right time; also, she wanted to know who was behind all of this so she could kick their arses later. Right now, she had to do what they said. She turned around slowly, a frown on her face as her eyes analysed the agents. She saw a plausible way to get out of this situation right then. However, her contemplation took too long and she was hit over the head.

Blackness overcame her.

Thank you for reading :)