Hello dear Inkdrops, after a long pause I finally got around to continuing this story!

I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think!
In this chapter I just assumed Stark junior could fly a plane as his Dad definitely could

Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel, only Alexandra

Chapter 7: Figure it out

Inside, Lance and Alexandra were greeted by a very excited young agent. "This is Skye", May introduced the hacker briskly, "she will brief you on your mission while we are flying. Now buckle up, we are going to take off in a minute."

With unhidden fascination Xandra watched May prepare the plane. She had always loved to fly and especially the perspective out of the cockpit. Thanks to a certain billionaire who had taken her on one of his planes a couple of times and a former sweatheart, she even had a vague idea of how to steer the machine.

"So this is the code. Or rather the mess you have to figure out somehow", Skye interrupted her thoughts.

She handed Edvardson a laptop, keeping her eyes fixed on the asset. In an instant, Alexandra's expression shifted, her eyes deadly serious as she started to skimm the code. This wouldn't be easy, she knew it after the first 30 seconds. But she could do it, that she knew after only 30 seconds more. Without taking her eyes away from the screen, the cryptographer searched for something in her handbag. She was relieved when she found her iPod and a black notebook. Headphones in, she started to write, blending out everything else. When she was coding or decoding, there was no pain, no heartache, no sorrow, just her, the code and the music. It was addictive loosing herself like this, maybe that was why she got along with Stark. For him, his tinkering was the same, an escape from reality.

Alexandra lost track of time, she did not know if hours or only minutes had passed. When her playlist finally ended, she looked up. From what she could see out of the window, they were somewhere over water, no land to be seen. Hunter and Skye were both asleep while May had her eyes fixed on the horizon.
"How are you getting on?", she asked suddenly.

"Not too bad. I have decrypted the easier part. Now even my brain neeeds a break. You were right, this code is incredibly complex. Do you mind if I join you?", the younger woman asked politely. She halfway expected a rejection but to her surprise May just nodded. When Alexandra slipped into the seat next to her and put on a headset, the Asian turned on the autopilot and turned to face the younger one.

"Okay, so here are the rules. If you want to stay, don't touch the console, keep your hands to yourself. Understood?"

"Yes Ma'am, understood", Edvardson answered, smiling back. She was happy she could keep sitting where she was at the moment, the rest would follow later. Trying to take in as much as she could, the girl watched May's every move, a bit like a bird of prey. After a while, the Asian huffed and rolled her eyes. "Staring is impolite, did your mother not tell you?"

It was unlikely May actually wanted to provoke Xandra, she was much too clever for that. Nevertheless her words hit right where it hurt most. Alexandra couldn't even say why, she had thought she was done with this topic ages ago. Quite obviously it wasn't so.

"No, my mother didn't tell me, probably because she left me as soon as I was born!", the girl spat. Fury made her eyes burn with tears, but she didn't let them fall. To her surprise, a shadow of regret slid over May's face, as if she felt sorry for causing the younger one unnecessary pain. However she did not verbally apologize, she only tilted her head slightly, a curt nod in understanding. Alexandra hardly knew this woman at all, but something told her that this silent acknowledgement was more than most people got from Melinda May. They spent more time in silence, both of them not looking at each other but out of the front window. Even though she was a rather outspoken, talkative person Alexandra could stand silence just well, she was used to it through her father who often failed to take notice of her very presence even when in the same room, too engrossed in his studies. After a couple of minutes, May sighed.

"Alright, I might as well show you as you have probably figured out half of the stuff anyway." Not waiting for a response, the Asian began to desribe the different features in the cockpit and how and when to use them. Alexandra was especially fascinated by cloaking technology, that was something that even Stark's planes did not have. As usual, any useful information (and this might all be very useful one day, who knew) was stored away neatly into a folder in Xandra's brain. She realized that she immensly enjoyed listening to the agent. There was something about May that made the girl pay close attention to her words but she could not quite pinpoint what it she placed questions which where mostly answered, time flew by while they were talking.

Suddenly, there was shuffling in the jet behind them. "We really have to check whether this is May or her Evil Twin. She is definitely talking to much to be her true self", Lance commented, his voice still horse from sleep. The agent rolled her eyes, not gratifying her collegue with an answer, but her lips were quirked slightly upwards and there was a mischivous sparkle in her dark eyes. At the same time, Alexandra sniggered. "Thank you for the lesson Agent May. I will try and go on with the decoding", she commented while handing her headset to Hunter and going back to her former seat. After she had chosen a new playlist, her game of numbers and letters started again until her eyes drifted close and she fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

A hand touched her lightly on the shoulder and Xandra jolted awake. Confused she looked around, blinking, taking in her surrounding. Then, everything came back to her: S.H.I.E.L.D., the code, the plane. Somebody was chuckling lightly and she looked straight at the person who had dared to wake her up. It was Skyeand she did not seem sorry at all, rather amused at Alexandra's slightly pissed off facial expression. Only because she was a light sleeper in new environments and very quickly awake did not mean she particularly enjoyed it!

"Hey, you have soldier reflexes", Hunter remarked, "sure you haven't been in the army before?"

"Yes, I am sure", she confirmed, a slight tinge of sadness in her voice.

"Touchdown in twenty minutes", May announced in that moment, "get everything packed up now!"

The more the airplane sunk, the more excited got the young asset. And also a bit scared. Even though she would never admit that of course. What would wait in that facility for her? But she had lived through such a lot already, how much more damage could another crazy job do?

And that's it for this chapter! Thank you so much for reading!
Please leave me a review and tell me what you think about the interaction between Xandra and May!