Note: spoilers for finale of 'AoS' season two. There weren't supposed to be, but I forgot that, so you've got references to what happened at the end of the episode.

"The Hacker"

"Is there any reason you're hacking my computer?"

Skye froze, and it wasn't from the ice in the woman's voice. She wasn't entirely sure, but she was pretty confident that this was the Pepper Potts she was speaking to. And saying Skye's soulmark words, no less. As she grappled for a reply, there was a sigh on the other end, a few keys being tapped, and Skye gulped as Coulson rounded the corner, frowning when he saw on her laptop and probably looking guilty as all hell.

"What have you done?" he said.

"W-what makes you think I've done anything?" she asked, half-listening to the conversation taking place at the other end of the line.

"For all your SHIELD training, sometimes you're as bad at lying as Simmons is," he replied. Skye slumped.

"I was making sure my skills hadn't gotten rusty," she said. "So I…"

"You…?"

"Kind of… hacked Stark Industries?"

Coulson's shoulders stiffened. "I see."

"DC—"

"Apologise to whoever's upset with you, assure them it'll never happen again, and remove any trace that you were there in the first place."

"It's Pepper Potts. I think."

He blanched. "Can she hear me?"

"She's talking to someone."

"…Okay. Beg a lot when she starts talking to you again."

"Roger that," Skye muttered as Coulson walked off. She sighed, and soon heard another semi-familiar voice on the phone.

"How the hell did you do that?" (possibly) Tony Freaking Stark said.

"It's… a skill of mine," Skye said. She'd heard that Stark and Potts were soulmates, but just because they'd both said her words, it was still unlikely that Skye was their—

"Pepper, didn't you think it was slightly important to tell me that—" He halted abruptly, and Skye waited. "Has she said anything to you?"

No. Couldn't be.

What?

"…Are you our soulmate?" Pepper Oh-My-God Potts said.

"Maybe?" Skye said. Then she realised what a crappy soulmark that would be, and hurried to continue. "I don't know. I wasn't expecting any of this when I woke up this morning. I mean, what the hell?" She clapped a hand over her mouth and screwed her eyes shut. Too much. Pretty damn specific, but what if those were the words? What if Potts and Stark didn't believe her? What if they wanted to meet, and the whole Inhuman and quaking powers and Coulson-being-alive thing came out? Shit.

"I think…" Stark cleared his throat. "We should meet. What's your name, kid?"

"…Skye?"

"You're gonna have to give us more than that, honey."

"There isn't any more."

"Why not?" Potts said.

"Grew up in an orphanage, then the system, then picked my own name."

"…Oh."

"My history is complicated, pretty crappy, and I became an ace hacker because of my soulmarks. Wanted to make sure I could find someone who'd actually want to keep me around, instead of just passing me on as pretty much everyone else has…" She wound down, taking deep breaths, just like everyone had taught her. "I don't know whether I can meet—"

"Of course you can," Stark interrupted. "We'll fly anywhere, or fly you anywhere."

"It's not that. It's… There's a crisis here at the moment."

"I can get my best friend Rhodey to clear the air-space for you. Or for us. Say, can you send pictures of your soulmarks?"

Skye blinked. "As in one of my friends has gone missing."

"What have you tried to do to find… him? Her?"

"Her, and there's not much we can do." Except consult Thor, and maybe it was time for Coulson to reveal himself to the Avengers, but Skye wasn't going to push him, especially not while he was still recovering. It was up to him. "A weird rock kind of swallowed her up. We don't know whether she's still there, or somewhere else, if she's even alive—"

"We can help," Potts said. "Or we know people who can."

Skye wiped away the tears that came so easily when thinking about Simmons. "Thanks, but I have to stay here for the time being."

"Are you self-employed, or is there someone we can talk to about—"

"I'll call you later," Skye said, ending the conversation. She threw every firewall into place, powered down her laptop, and hoped her signal scrambler kept them from tracing her. Since it was Stark Industries, not Avengers Tower, she was probably safe from the AI which ran the building. Which meant that SHIELD was safe. For now.

She had to talk to Coulson.

The director's first reaction, when Skye told him that Pepper Potts and Tony Stark were probably her soulmates, was to reach into his bar fridge, get out an ice pack, and slap it on his head as he rested back in his computer chair. Skye winced.

"It's not that bad… is it?" she asked.

"Pepper's wonderful," he replied. "Stark's a headache. Just hearing about him…"

"That's not why you've got a headache, right? I mean, it's the whole potential reveal that's got you worried. Isn't it? DC?"

He side-eyed her with a frown. "You're still capable of lying, but your soulmates will be able to tell after you've bonded with them."

"If I bond with them," she said.

"Oh, once you meet Pepper Potts you will want to bond with her. And you're a hacker. Plus there was that fangirl thing outside Stark Tower that you keep denying, even though we have… we had… evidence." Skye was pretty smug about deleting said evidence, although she'd never be able to live that down. Hell, Stark probably had the security footage somewhere, not that he'd be able to pick her out of a crowd.

"I've seen pictures," Skye said. "I'm not blind. But there might not be any chemistry between us, so don't jump your guns there, DC."

He sighed. "When did you get your marks?"

"A few years ago. Why?"

"During the battle of New York?"

"Yeah." He smiled half-heartedly, and Skye quickly put things together. "That's when you died, wasn't it?"

"I don't think they realised we were soulmates. If they did, they never said anything to me, which made it pretty clear. I went on lunch dates with Pepper, but just as friends. There was never any mention of… And Stark clearly didn't like me. There was never even a chance for it to be platonic."

"…I can't do this."

"You can. If you want to. No one's going to force you into anything, or coerce you. Be as suspicious as usual. You should meet them—"

"But Simmons—"

"We'll do everything we can for her," Coulson said, holding up a hand to stop her. "The distraction will do you good, and maybe you can sound Thor out about the Kree rock while you're there. And hope he doesn't send for Lady Sif." His mouth twisted in disapproval. "She might reveal that I'm alive, and I'd prefer to tell them myself."

"When?" Skye asked. "When are you planning to tell them?"

He arched an eyebrow. "When the time is right, and preferably in the most dramatic way possible. The Avengers don't hold the concession on spectacular entrances."

"The difference between villains and supervillains is style."

"If I become a villain, I hope you'll notice in time," he said dryly.

"At least our new soulmate isn't a toddler," Pepper pointed out as Tony paced.

"Yeah, but I can't find anything on her! Any 'Skye' just… doesn't fit," he said. "Why aren't there forums for matching soulmark writing?"

"There are plenty of those," she said. "You just don't trust them."

His eyes moved even more rapidly than his hands and feet. "Stark Industries needs to do something about this. Create a device, an app, a… a formula, and goddamnit, where's Bruce when you need him?"

"Escaping the trouble you two got into after Ultron," she muttered. Tony glared at her.

"And where were you?" he said.

"Working! Doing my damn job, Tony, which you should've been doing."

"I don't want people to die!" he said, waving his arms. "I was just trying to protect my friends! I… I saw them all dying." He swallowed. "Saw Steve die, accusing me of not doing everything I could to…" He lowered his head, steps slowing to a halt. "Ever since I found out what Obie was doing with my weapons, everything I've done, I've been doing to save people, Pep."

"Not everything," she said. "Some of it's pure ego-trip. But you have saved people, and I know you'll keep trying."

He fidgeted, and glanced at her. "She said she'd call."

"Which could mean anytime."

"How are we supposed to wait?"

"Well." Pepper looked him up and down. "I can think of a few things to pass the time."

Tony perked up.

Skye managed to arrange some time with her possible soulmates – and really, how could they not be, when they both said her words? – but she visited the tank first, even though she'd technically been banned from going anywhere near it. Lincoln was keeping well away, like a sensible Inhuman. Skye wished she could do the same thing, but it was a form of punishment, seeing how she'd failed Simmons just by having the wrong parents, by having the powers her friend hated so much.

"I'll see you later," Skye said. "I'm sorry, Simmons. We'll find a way out. I'll ask Thor about this, see if he can tell me anything. If he can't…" She shrugged. "We'll move onto the next plan. But it'd be awesome if you could find your way out of there soon. I think I've found my soulmates, and I wanna show you off. So… bye for now."

The butterflies in her stomach just wouldn't settle. They fluttered as May drove her to the meeting point, a clearing a couple of miles away from the base. The Avengers' Quinjet was going to pick her up, assuming it met with May's approval. They were down too many agents to send someone with Skye. She'd been sworn to as much secrecy as possible regarding Coulson's resurrection, but they all knew there was only so much she could keep from her soulmates. Besides, the longer Coulson put it off, the worse it was going to be when everything was revealed.

Skye nearly leapt out of her skin when Iron Man landed in front of the car. May had her gun out, ready to shoot, before he even touched the ground. Both women were out of the car in seconds, aiming at him; it could've been anyone inside, after all.

"One of you my other soulmate?" Okay, that sounded like his voice, but it was no guarantee. Not even when a jet landed behind him. There was an electronic sigh, then the faceplate slid away to reveal what definitely looked like Tony Stark. Pepper Potts walked down the ramp of the jet and over to them, glaring at Iron Man.

"You freaked them out," she said. "That's the first impression you wanted to make?"

"You should probably be more worried about the impression you want to make on May, seeing as she's my SO," Skye said, tilting her head in May's direction. "She's gotta vet all of you – and the plane – before I'm allowed out of her sight."

"Sounds oppressive," Stark said, frowning from one to the other.

"Skye's safety should come before your ego, don't you think?" May asked, not relaxing one inch. Stark opened and close his mouth, before looking at Potts helplessly.

"That would be a 'yes'," she said dryly. "Skye. A pleasure to meet you at last." She held out her hand, and Skye took it, a subtle tingle beneath her skin. Something she'd never felt with anyone else. This was definitely her soulmate, which meant that it must've been Pepper Potts. That feeling could never be recreated or faked in any way.

"You too," Skye said. Wow. Eloquent. "I mean, it's an honour. And I'm happy as well, because I was… this is… it's unexpected. And I didn't think I'd really find my soulmates because I've done a lot of things I haven't—"

"Nothing as bad as what I've done," Stark said. He still looked wary, but his suit peeled off, leaving him in the kind of outfit Coulson would envy, including… an Iron Man tie, which Potts clearly noticed as well, because she rolled her eyes.

"Everyone wants to meet you," she said. "Will you come back to the tower with us?"

"Come with us anywhere?" Stark said, wiggling his eyebrows with a cheeky smirk. Skye blushed, and May cleared her throat pointedly.

"We're going to look the plane over, and then she can go with you, if she wants to," she said. "I'm not letting anything happen to her that she doesn't want."

"Do you really think we'd hurt our soulmate intentionally?" he asked indignantly.

"Wouldn't be the first time someone we trusted let us down," Skye muttered, finally letting go of Pepper's hand. "I'm sure it's okay. I could feel it, the… the connection."

May's eyes narrowed. "I said I'd take care of you."

"And you have. Thank you. I'll let you know when I'm ready to come back."

"Call or send a message as soon as you arrive," May said. She touched Skye's shoulder, then returned to the car. Skye watched her SO drive off, and Stark nudged her until she shook his hand as well. The skin-deep tickle was present, and she realised it was an incredibly useful way to make sure they were who they said.

"This way," Stark said, pulling her along. Potts took her other hand, and Skye wondered if they thought they'd become her new family. Because they weren't. She had one, her SHIELD family, and she was only going with her soulmates to get Thor's help. These two had each other, had been together for years before she met them, first platonically and then romantically. Skye couldn't see herself just slotting into that dynamic somewhere. She'd tell Thor about the problem back at base, then say 'Thanks, but no thanks' to whatever Potts and Stark suggested, and then get the hell out of there. They were better off without her.

She should've felt guilty, but the footage of Simmons being sucked into the rock stayed with her, haunted her dreams, the echo of her scream waking Skye every morning. That was her first priority, not her soulmates.

"Thinking deep thoughts?"

"Hmm?" She met Potts's eyes as they all strapped into the seats.

"You looked worried."

"Oh. Just… about my friend. The one who's missing. It gives me nightmares."

"How did you come across alien tech?" Stark asked her.

"Not… not so much tech. More a really big rock which turns into liquid, then back into rock form. It's stayed solid ever since it swallowed h-her up." She clenched her fists, feeling out the vibrations of her clothing to keep herself calm. "We have no idea what it is. We think it might be Kree, but…" She shrugged helplessly.

"Kree?" Potts said.

"Not the first time we've run into Kree-related problems, so it's a pretty safe bet."

"And who's 'we'?" Hawkeye asked from the front seat. At least Skye was pretty sure it was Clint Barton, from what she could see. "Y'know, out of curiosity."

"…The team I'm part of."

"Sounds shady."

"And of course the Avengers are squeaky clean," Skye said unthinkingly. She felt guilty when Stark flinched. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I only meant… we all have secrets, and I need to keep some of mine, at least for now. It's no fun if we know everything about each other within an hour of meeting, is it?"

"Except I recognised Melinda May," Hawkeye said. "She worked for SHIELD, which means either you both do, or you work with her mom. If she's no longer stuck on paperwork and back in the field, it'll be some secret organisation where she'd thrive."

Skye coughed. "Classified."

"Goddamnit."

"Tony!"

"Sorry, Pepper." He sighed. "Sorry, Skye."

"Don't I get an apology?" Hawkeye said. "I reprimanded you at the same time, too."

"You say worse than I do, Hawkass. So not apologising."

How the hell do I end this? Author can't write at the moment.

My laptop was in for repairs the other day, and I've been playing games since, which is why I haven't been as productive. Plus my laptop was really slow after doing a backup today, which pissed me off. I'll try to do more. And I wrote a little Bucky/Phil soulmate AU fic on the Tumblr thing 'Arm in Arm'. Doesn't take long to read, and looks at what might happen if all soulmarks were on left hands and didn't grow back in a different place if the left arm was amputated, unlike in my Bucky/Darcy chapter, where his soulmark ended up on his right arm.

Uh, yeah. :D Please review! Ship requested by kogouma, I forgot to mention.