Thank you to Harliquinn for beta editing!

Happy Readings

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It was the weekend and Skye was bored at home. She was supposed to be at the mall with her friends that day, and now she was grounded. Wanda had canceled their training for the day because she had something come up, and everyone was busy with some meeting. Skye went and knocked on the conference room door.

"Yes?" Steve called out.

Skye went in. There was a meeting going on with most of the Avengers sitting around the table.

"Sorry to interrupt. I just didn't want to leave without making sure someone knew. I'm going to go for a walk," Skye said.

"That's fine," Steve said.

Skye left, closing the door behind her before heading out to go for a walk. It wasn't long before the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up. She was being watched. She looked around to see if she could see anyone watching her. There were people all around her, but she didn't notice anyone paying particular attention to her. She decided to turn down a different street, and the feeling went away. But after a few minutes, she saw someone turning a corner away from her. It was Kate, and something in her gut told Skye to go after her. She turned the same corner Kate had and saw her. She kept following her, keeping her distance.

Eventually, she saw Kate go into a warehouse. Skye went in a few seconds after her and hid behind a stack of boxes by the door. She peeked around and saw a group of people, most of whom looked to be about eighteen or nineteen. But there were a few older-looking people, too. A lot of the group were wearing shirts that had the logo of the company where Kate was interning.

"Kate, good, you are here," one of the older men said.

"Sorry I'm late, Mr. Kramer," Kate said.

"It's fine," Mr. Kramer said. "Are you ready to get to training?"

"Definitely," Kate said.

Skye had taken out her phone and started to film what was happening.

The group of teenagers all paired up, and they started to fight each other. It looked like a session of her and Wanda training but without the super abilities.

Mr. Kramer and another man came and stood close to where Skye was hiding. Skye held her breath, not wanting to be caught.

"Have you had any luck finding the super serum?" the other man asked.

"No, we need to get hold of that girl and extract it from her DNA," Mr. Kramer said.

"We have one of her best friends here. She has offered to bring her to us. That girl is apparently easily manipulated, and Kate could easily get her here with no suspicion," the man said.

"Walter, we can't just bring her here. She is likely bugged by her father, and bringing her here will just get all the Avengers here. We need to figure out how to get her blood elsewhere," Mr. Kramer said.

"Yeah, I suppose that would be a problem until we get them all injected with the serum," Walter said.

Skye was stunned. Civicmax was a front for some sort of organized crime thing, and Kate was right in the middle of it. She was agreeing to get her there so they could get her DNA. Her supposed best friend would manipulate her to get what she wanted. Why, she wondered.

Skye put her phone in her pocket and took off running back home. She ran inside, took the elevator up, and went straight to the conference room. She knocked.

"Yes?" Tony said.

Skye went in and saw that the projector was already up she handed Tony her phone. "This is important. Hook it up. There is a video you need to see."

Tony did so and pressed play. Everyone saw what Skye had seen at the warehouse.

Steve looked up at Skye after the video finished. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Skye said.

"Where was this?" Tony asked.

Skye told everyone.

"How did you find yourself there?" Steve asked.

"I saw Kate when I was on my walk and had a gut feeling I needed to follow her. This is where I was led. I hid behind a stack of boxes and got this," Skye said.

"Do you realize how lucky you are that someone didn't catch you?" Steve asked.

Skye nodded.

"I said you could go for a walk, not do some vigilante thing," Steve said.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Skye said.

"You followed Kate on purpose. I told you to leave her alone," Steve said.

"If I hadn't we wouldn't know that Civicmax is a front for some group trying to get my DNA to recreate the super serum," Skye said.

"We knew they were trying to recreate the super serum," Tony said. "We have already figured that out."

Skye looked confused. "Did you know Kate was involved with it?"

"Yes," Steve said.

"And you didn't think I should know?" Skye asked.

"No, I didn't. it's my job to protect you, not tell you everything," Steve said.

"She was my best friend!" Skye said. "You had to know I would keep trying to find her."

"You were told to stay away from her and leave her alone," Steve said.

"If you had told me, I wouldn't have followed her!" Skye said, getting louder.

"Skyler, lower your voice," Steve said.

Skye's eyes filled with tears.

"Skye's right. You should have told her something," Wanda said.

"Excuse me?" Steve said to Wanda.

"Skye, you should go to your room," Tony quickly told the girl. She didn't need to hear this.

Skye went quickly.

"You want her to be safe, yet you don't tell her the basic things to help her keep herself safe. You can't tell someone to stay away from someone they consider a sister and not give her a reason why," Wanda said once Skye was out of the room.

"She's right, Steve," Nat said. "We all understand you want to protect her. We all do. But, unless you have someone with her twenty-four hours a day, which is not something I suggest, she needs to know the very basic things to be prepared to protect herself. She didn't know Kate was up to something like this. She misses her and just wanted to see where she was going."

"Skye is a lot like you, Steve, and not just because you share super abilities. She is stubborn and strong-willed and will go down protecting those she cares about," Bucky said.

"Yes, and if, when we were her age, I found out you were in some sort of organized crime group I would have run straight into it to help you. You don't think Skye would have done the same?" Steve asked.

"I was the one dragging you out of shit every damn week," Bucky said.

"But, if the roles were reversed, and I had the serum in my blood, then I would have died to protect you," Steve said. "And Skye would do the same for Kate. I know that."

"But, if you had told her what was going on, she might have called you before she followed her," Nat said.

"You wanting to protect her is normal, but she is not a normal teenager. She will always have a target on her back. And, for her to be most prepared to help protect herself, she needs to be informed of some things," Sam said.

"So does everyone think I'm the one who was in the wrong?" Steve said.

"You told her to stay away from her. She shouldn't have ignored that," Tony said.

"But, you agree I should have told her?" Steve asked.

"Yes," Tony said.

"Why didn't anyone tell me this?" Steve asked.

"I tried to," Wanda said. "You told me I wouldn't understand because I'm not yet a parent."

Steve let out a breath.

"When it comes to Skye, I think, if you could, you would just put her in a plastic bubble to not let any harm come to her," Nat said.

Steve looked at Clint. "You kept your entire family hidden from even us for years. You have to get it."

"I do get wanting to protect her. No one here is saying you shouldn't. But, eventually, my family became known to the world, and my kids don't have abilities the way Skye does. If they did, I probably would be a lot like you," Clint said. "I don't think that she needs to be out there fighting with us, and I don't think she needs to be aware of every single thing going on. But when the threat is towards her, and it comes from someone who is using her friend to get her, she needs to know so she doesn't end up falling into a trap from someone she trusts."

Steve nodded. "I need to talk to her."

"Go. We could all probably use a break anyway," Tony said.

Steve got up and went to knock on Skye's bedroom door.

"Come in," Skye said softly.

Steve went in and saw her sitting on her bed hugging her knees.

"Thank you for coming to us with this information upfront. I should have told you what I knew about what Kate was up to," Steve said.

Skye nodded a little. "I should have listened to you and not followed her. I'm sorry."

Steve nodded. "Thank you."

"How did you find out what was going on with Kate?" Skye asked.

"When Kate was here we all noticed something seemed off with her. Tony found her trying to get into the office. When she was caught she claimed she was just looking for the bathroom. Then you mentioned that you'd found out she was working for Civicmax. Given the fact that they didn't seem interested in working with Stark Industries, Tony's ego got the better of him. He did some research and found out that some of the higher-ups in the company have been working with Hydra. That's a corporation the Avengers helped bring down. We sent in someone to try and get some information and found out that they are trying to get the serum. In preparation for when they get the serum, they are building a team of teenagers who are recently aged out of foster care and are, therefore, desperate for money, " Steve said

"What is being done?" Skye asked

"Well, we have been trying to find out where they are doing the training," Steve said.

"So I helped?" Skye asked.

"Yes, but your helping isn't worth you ending up hurt. I know you didn't know what you were walking into, but that's the point. You didn't know what Kate was up to," Steve said.

Skye nodded. "Had I known, I wouldn't have followed her, at least not without calling for backup."

"Okay, but when I ask you not to do something, you need to listen. Even if Kate wasn't up to anything bad, if she doesn't want you around, you need to respect that," Steve said.

"It's just not fair. I feel like they picked her because of her connection to me," Skye said.

"Probably, but I don't think she went into this not having any idea about what was happening. If she didn't know and got herself in this situation, there are people who will help her," Steve said.

"Does she know that though?" Skye asked.

Steve nodded. "Before she left the day she was here Wanda let her know if she ever got into a situation and needed help to just call her, that Wanda had her back because any friend of yours was a friend of hers."

"Oh," Skye said.

"And, based on the fact that Tony doesn't believe she was just lost looking for the bathroom when she tried going into the office, she knows what she's doing," Steve said.

Skye nodded and let out a breath.

"So, you are to stay away from her. And, if she makes any attempts to contact you, you need to tell someone right away," Steve said.

Skye nodded.

"I'm serious, Skye. I need you to be safe. Unless you want me to lock you up and throw away the key, I need you to continue being honest about these things," Steve said.

Skye smiled a little. "I understand."

"Good," Steve said.

"Does this mean I get to be part of Avengers meetings now?" Skye asked.

Steve chuckled. "If it's pertinent to you, maybe."

Skye smiled and nodded. "I guess that's fair."

"Skye, I will inform you about things that you need to know. But this doesn't mean you are ready to be out there fighting with us," Steve said.

"Okay, but when this thing with Civicmax and Kate becomes something, can you please consider letting me be a part of it," Skye asked.

Steve let out a breath. "I will think about it."

"Okay, thank you," Skye said.

Steve and Skye hugged before Steve went back to the conference room and sat down.

Tony came into the room and put a cup of coffee in front of him.

"Thanks, Tony, how do you do this parenting thing?" Steve asked.

"Well, Morgan is five. She doesn't know how to misbehave," Tony said with a smirk.

Steve chuckled. "You say that like you aren't a parent to Pete."

Tony shrugged. "It was a different situation than this. Yes, I held and still do hold him accountable for his actions, but by the time I got to him, he was already fighting small-time criminals. It took me some time before I let him get involved with anything major, not that he didn't do things behind my back. But it was much harder for me to keep him away from things. We talked about it when you officially got her back. I couldn't stop him when he wasn't living here, so I found a way that he got to fight safely. I gave him the highest tech suit I could that gave him as much protection as possible."

"Yeah, any chance I could ask you to make something for Skye?" Steve asked.

Tony nodded., "I have been working on something, I was just waiting for you to ask."

Steve smiled. "Thanks, Tony."

"You ready to let her get more involved?" Tony asked.

"No, but I agreed to think about letting her if it involved Civicmax and Kate," Steve said. "And, I told her I would consider letting her be in meetings if it pertains to her. I just can't wrap my head around how letting her be involved is doing my job as her dad and keeping her safe."

"She isn't a regular kid, Steve. We knew that before we knew the connection to you. We brought her here to train her. Yes, it was partly to make sure we kept her from going to the bad side. Had Civicmax found her first that, would have been a fight we might not have been able to win," Tony said.

Steve nodded. "I can't even think about that. And, I don't know if they could replicate the super serum. Some of the smartest scientists have tried and results never ended the way they had wanted."

"Yes, but someone eventually will be able to," Tony said. "We don't know the scientists that Civicmax has on their payroll. And, Hydra came pretty close to recreating it before. So, if they have people who know what Hydra did, and they can get her DNA they might have a fighting chance."

Steve let out a breath and nodded.

"You can keep her safe by teaching her how to defend herself and preparing her to fight the fights she will eventually have to fight. The sooner we can see her in action, the sooner we can see what she needs to work on. Right now she has over a dozen people who will be involved in any fight she is part of, and we will all keep her safe," Tony said.

Soon everyone else was back in the room, and they continued with what they had been working on.