Hi guys! Thanks to everyone who has been reading/reviewing/subscribing/favoriting this story. Means a lot. I'm so glad that you all are enjoying it. Here's another chapter for you all to read.

Enjoy!

*Present Day*

Hands clasped together tightly, we keep on running and don't look back, or stop, until I know that we are far enough away from that place. As we run, I keep a tight hold of his hand, never wanting to let go. I don't want to risk letting go of him until I know that we are safe. I have spent two years away from him, and it was agony. It was absolutely horrible not having him there with me, and I never want to go through that again.

Finally reaching our destination, underneath of an old bridge, we stop, and I drop his hand, allowing him to take a moment to himself and catch his breath. I do the same for myself, leaning up against the underside of the bridge, breathing somewhat heavily. I may run a lot, but it's been a while since I've ran that fast.

When I finally catch my breath, I stand up straight and look at him, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you."

"How did you find me?"

He smiles at me, "You're not as clever as you think. I was able to track you whenever you did something on a computer."

"How did you know it was me? It could have been someone else."

"I know you, Skye. Which is why I recognized your codes that you were using and stuff, and I was able to track where you were. Then I would ask around, flash your picture around, and stuff."

"Huh. Maybe robots have a better connection with technology than I thought."

"You know, after two years of not being called a robot, I'm kinda glad at hearing you call me that."

"Good. Because it's never gonna stop." He just smiles at me and I smile back. "But seriously," I say after a moment, "Why did you come and find me?"

"Because you need to come back."

I sigh, "I can't. Not with all of those people who are still after me. I keep thinking that I've stopped them all, but then I keep sensing another one coming after me. Nobody will stop until they have me and can experiment on me."

"But I won't let them hurt you." He tells me, stepping towards me.

"That's what you said the last time," I snap, glaring at him. He takes a step back, the look on his face dropping somewhat. "I'm sorry," I apologize, "I didn't mean to snap. I'm just really tired. I haven't slept in a couple days."

"What?" his eyes go wide. "Skye, you can't do that. You need to sleep. You'll burn yourself out if you don't."

"Well, I've been doing just fine so far," I tell him. "So I really don't see what the big deal is."

"Look, I didn't come here to argue," he tells me. "I came to bring you back. We need you back, Skye. The team does."

"No." I say quickly, "I can't. If I go back there, they could get hurt."

"They're already hurt," he says sadly, "All of them."

My breath catches, "What? When? How?"

"It wasn't too long after you got taken from the car on the freeway. That man, Donovan, he had them all beaten and tortured, trying to find out where you had been taken. It wasn't Donovan's men who took you, it was someone else. I guess it was someone Donovan was working with, but he decided to go rogue, do things his own way. I don't know his name, but I know he was bad. Luckily for me, Agent Hill wasn't too far from the crash site and when she recognized me, she had a team brought in to where I was and managed to get me out of there before things got too bad. She got me the treatment that I needed for my injuries, and I recovered pretty well; my injuries weren't too bad. The rest of the team wasn't so lucky though. By the time we were able to find them, the damage had already been done."

"What happened?" I ask.

"They were all tortured," he says, ripping the band-aid straight off, no sugar-coating. "May has been confined to a wheelchair; both of her legs were broken in multiple places. She has a scar from a large gash from a kitchen knife in her side. She still has a few scars on her face from being punched so hard that the skin broke that never healed. The doctors don't know if she'll ever walk again. Physical therapy has been helping a little bit, but it could still be a while. And even then, she won't be able to fight like she used to.

Coulson got a few broken ribs and a broken arm. He also had some major internal bleeding, but they managed to stop it, and repair the damage that was done. He was shot a few times, so there were some holes that they had to patch up. He died twice on the operating table. He still has a few bruises covering his torso, and he says that it hurts for him to move.

Fitz has some brain damage, from the torture. I think they did him in the worst, knew he wouldn't be able to hold up as well as Coulson and May would. I don't know exactly what they did to him, but all I know is that he never stopped screaming. The doctors don't think he'll ever be back to where he used to be, with his IQ and everything. Don't know if he'll still be able to create new gadgets and things for the organization. They did a lot of damage to him."

I swallow thickly, "And what about Simmons?"

"Simmons wasn't hurt physically. Hers was more emotional and psychological abuse, rather than physical abuse. I think they hit her a couple of times, but you wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at her. They made her watch as they tortured Fitz. Every time she tried to close her eyes and stop herself from watching him be hurt and hearing him scream, they'd force her to keep her eyes open. But they wouldn't let her near him. They made her watch as her best friend was tortured."

By now, I have tears running down my face. I never wanted any of that to happen, "That's horrible," I manage to say, "all of it. Why would they do that?"

"Because none of them would give up where you were."

"But they didn't know where I was. I didn't even know where I was."

"I know that. But Donovan and his men didn't know that. They thought that the team was hiding your location from them. Figured they could beat it out of them."

"That's awful."

"Yeah. But there's more."

"What?"

"Apparently, these are some of the same people, who uh, who kidnapped you when you were a baby."

"What?!"

"They knew how powerful you would become, more powerful than your parents, and they wanted to raise you to be their own weapon. But an agent with SHIELD managed to get to you before they could do anything."

"And a whole village in China was destroyed because they were trying to find me. Do you know who it was that, uh, you know."

His face falls and he gets a sour look on his face, "HYDRA."

My eyes go wide, "What? I almost became a pawn for, HYDRA?"

"I know. Apparently they infiltrated SHIELD almost 70 years ago and have been waiting in the shadows for the right time to rise."

"How far did they infiltrate?"

"Deep. Some of the highest ranking SHIELD agents turned out to be HYDRA."

"Anyone that we know?"

"Sitwell, Blake, and Garret." He spits out the last name, like he's disgusted.

"Garret? As in your former S.O., Garret?"

He nods his head, "Yeah. Turns out he was the Clairvoyant all along."

"Wow. That mustn't have been easy for you to deal with when you found out."

"No. It wasn't. I've known the guy since I was a teenager. He was like a father to me. He trained me when I first got into SHIELD. And then I find out that he's been a part of this terrorist group and he's been lying to me all these years. I looked up to him for so long."

"Hey," I say, stepping forward and putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault. He made his choice, a long time ago I'm sure. You can't go back and change that."

"I know," he sighs, "I just feel so betrayed."

"I know you do. And I can't even begin to imagine how you must feel right now."

"Yeah, well, I'm just trying to move past it."

"I get it." I tell him, and then step back, checking my gun, "so, how long has HYDRA been out of the shadows?"

"Just under two years. It wasn't too long after you were taken that we figured out who they really were. Most people in the world know now, it's not a huge secret anymore. How come you didn't know?"

"I've been on the run. Not really enough time to stay and gossip with people about the latest happenings."

"I guess that makes sense. But still, you had to have heard something."

"Well, I thought that I felt something odd coming off of some of the men I took down, like there was this deep, hidden secret almost, that they weren't saying aloud, but I never really figured out what it was. Now I guess know." I let out a sigh, "Anyways, tell me what's been going on."

"We've been fighting. Those who are still loyal to SHIELD have been fighting to take them down. People are calling it World War III."

"How many are still loyal?"

"Besides the two of us, there's the rest of the team, all of the Avengers and their associates, Fury, Hand, Hill, and a handful of other agents. Even some of the Cadets have been recruited to helping fight. They're being trained on the go, I guess you could say. But I'm not sure what the exact count is though, of people fighting."

"That amount of people is good, I suppose. We still have a bunch of people who are willing to do whatever it takes to defeat HYDRA. But this all needs to end now. You need to get back, work with everyone to come up with a final battle plan, a really good one. I'll try to help you out in any way that I can without getting caught." I turn around and slowly begin walking towards the edge of the tunnel.

"Skye," I hear him say. I don't turn around. "What's happened to you these last two years?"

I look down at the ground, "I've survived." I say bluntly. "I've been running, and hiding, and surviving."

"It's time to stop. You don't have to run anymore," he says quietly to me. I turn around and look up to see him standing significantly closer than before, "I've been worried sick for the last two years, not knowing where you've been. I've been searching for you, trying to find you, so that I can tell you that we all still need you, Skye. I still need you."

He leans closer to me and I feel my breath catch in my throat, "What are you…"

He cuts me off by placing a finger gently on my lips, "I've missed you so much." He removes his finger from my lips and moves closer.

"I've missed you too," I admit out loud, and to myself.

I close the small space between us, capturing his lips in mine in a hungry kiss. Two years of pent up feelings for one another is poured into that one kiss. I kiss him with everything I've got, placing my hands on his face to pull him closer.

Pulling back after a moment, due to the need for air, I rest my forehead against his, breathing heavily.

"Wow," I say, breathlessly.

"Yeah," he replies, "I've been wanting to do that for a while now."

"Me too," I confess. I slide my hands up and wrap my arms around his neck, while he wraps his around my waist. "So," I say again, "where does this put us now?"

"Well, we could always see where this goes. You know, even though we're technically in the middle of a war, we could give us a go."

"Us, that's a pretty strong word."

"I know," he smiles, "but I'm completely serious. I'm willing to try if you are."

I think for a moment, and then smile, "Sounds like a plan," I say and then lean up, kissing him once more, this one more gentle and loving.

When we pull apart, he smiles at me, "Now then, this war plan, where do we start?"
"Honestly?" I say, "I don't really know. I usually just make things up as I go, hoping to not get caught and experimented on."

I can feel his grip tighten on me when I mention being experimented on, "I know where to start," he tells me, "We need to get back to everyone else. Let them know that you're okay. And once they do, we can fill you in on everything that has happened, and you can do the same. Then we can start coming up with a battle plan."

"If you're sure about this," I say worriedly. I've been on my own for the past two years, fighting on my own, surviving on my own, running on my own. It's going to be hard working with a team again.

"I'm positive," he tells me, grabbing my hand in his, "I'll be right with you the whole time."

I smile gently at him, "Alright then. Let's go."

So? What did you think? Did you like it? Leave a review down below and let me know your thoughts. I'd love to hear from you.

Quick note about this story, there will be one more chapter, and then an Epilogue. Just so you're aware. :)

Also, if anyone is interested in participating in a special project I am doing for Chloe Bennet, let me know, and I can get some more information to ya.

Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!