The thing about Skye
Expansion off: She grew up in an orphanage
Despite SHIELD not knowing about this particular mission, May thinks it might be her easiest yet. Which is good, considering she doesn't want SHELD to know about this mission. And that she is robbing from nuns.
Picking the lock to the archives is even easier than the doors into the building. She bypassed the main office without even glancing in, knowing that Skye's file likely won't be held there any longer. If it even still exists.
May tried doing this the easy way, by impersonating the FBI and just asking for it, but like they all suspected, the nuns didn't have a 'Skye' on file. Without a name for them to pull, she will just have to look for herself.
So she goes to the section of the appropriate dates and combs through file by file. She only takes a cursory glance at the picture stapled to the top right of the first page before putting it back and moving to the next one.
It takes her an annoyingly long time before she runs across a picture that has her freezing. Under the name Mary Sue Poots, is Skye. A Skye looking even younger than she currently looks, an actual teenager, and also appearing nothing like the chatty, generally happy, girl they have come to know.
In this photo, she looks a bit lifeless staring straight at the camera, in a collared dress so stiff looking, May can imagine Skye trying to wiggle free of it. Skye doesn't like feeling trapped. Of that much, May knows. She sees it in the panic that seeps in and begins to overtake the girl when Ward gets her in a restraint (just before he releases her and demands her go again). She always walks away from grappling days looking a little more haggard than usual.
They've learned to leave her alone on those days.
Skye's file (and her name is Skye- not this Mary Sue her file has her as) is thick. One of the thicker ones in the stack. May lowers herself to the ground and leans back against one of the file cabinets.
She starts to read.
Skye came to the orphanage as a baby. A woman dropped her off- they don't know who. She had only been in four foster homes by the time she was nine, but that number grew quickly after that. Along with the disciplinary notes.
A few words stood out: difficult, loud, emotional, antagonistic.
They are all words that May herself had thought of the hacker, but seeing those words strewn throughout the file, it feels off. Wrong. Skye isn't bad, she's just Skye.
Along with the discipline notes, are the pictures. Pictures like some grotesque photo album of Skye through the years. But instead of capturing happy moments, Skye's eyes grow more empty and the bruises more severe. There are multiple police reports and hospital visits.
Skye's been to therapy. It doesn't have any notes of the sessions themselves, but there are a few diagnoses. ADHD, being the oldest, but as the years pass and each new doctor name shows up, so do the diagnoses. Anxiety, depression- the last documented therapist was when Skye was sixteen, and they were contemplating diagnosing her with borderline personality disorder.
May didn't know they gave children that diagnosis.
There aren't any files past Skye being sixteen, but May notices the history of running away.
Based on the pictures, May doesn't doubt that all those instances were for good reason.
May closes the file. She lets her head fall backward to softly thump against one of the drawers.
Skye's file is… a lot. It's not what she was looking for (it's exactly what she was looking for) and now there's an even more uncomfortable squirm in her gut. It feels a lot like guilt, but she has nothing to feel guilty of. It's her job to identify risks, and Skye is a big one.
No amount of reasoning makes the feeling go away, but there's anger also, so she focuses on that part. This file is complete bullshit. The way it's worded, calling Skye 'troubled' and 'hostile' like her awful experiences are her fault- like they didn't make her that way.
Like being a bit defiant, and loud, and emotional, aren't just symptoms of being an ordinary kid (let alone, an ADHD one).
May pushes herself to her feet and just stands in the middle of the room for a minute, file clutched in her hand. Then she strides over to the shredder.
Skye wanted this gone- erased. May is glad she read it, it helps her understand better, to better know how to act, but no one else will read it.
Besides, this file belongs to Mary Sue Poots. And Mary Sue doesn't exist.
A/N: Please leave a review! If you have any requests, send them in and I'll try my best.
~Silver~