AN: Hello! It's a doozy today, strap in. As always, many thanks to MegaDiary123 for beta-ing. Thank you all for the support and I shall see you agai in two weeks! Until next time...

All rights go to Marvel

Skye's POV

I was strapped in the back of the Quinjet bearing the Stark logo, as we made our way to the Mojave Desert. Because, of course, where they had taken Coulson had to be an abandoned '40s town that was built for the cold war but never actually bombed, and it was located in the same area the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility was built upon.

The Facility that held Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. and the Tesseract, before Loki came through and everything went to shit.

"You doing okay?", Clint came to sit next to me, leaving Natasha to pilot the jet as Tony and Steve were getting ready. Bruce wanted to join, but thought it would have been best not to attract that much attention to ourselves. And he would have everything ready with Jemma when we went back to the Tower to treat Coulson in whatever shape we found him in.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm just trying to focus on what's to come". I could feel there was more that he wanted to say, so I just waited.

After a few second of silence my suspicions were proven correct. "Look, I know you said you are ready—"

"I am not sitting this one out, Clint", I snapped at him. "You and Nat said I was ready"

He raised his palms in a non-threatening manner. "And you are. But sometimes, missions hit too close to home. And with the reaction you had at the Homestead…" he seemed to be able to tell that I was getting fed up. "Look", he changed tactics. "You have not shaken anything out of control since the nightmare you had after, what turned out to be, the first time you saw him again after his death", he paused for a second. "I am not going to make you sit this one out, but after, it's high time you get a psych eval. And from someone other than Simmons"

I tighten my grip of the straps holding me in place. "I promised Nat, and even Stark, that I would talk after this whole thing was wrapped up. Why is this not enough?", I doubted that I could change his mind, he could be stubborn as hell if he chose to.

He placed his hand on mine and gently brushed the tight hold away with his thumb. "It's not that I don't trust you, that we don't trust you. But as your S.O., I need to make sure that you are fit to be back in action. Both physically and mentally. And Fury agrees"

Oh, great, I thought.

"So, you are to take the eval, and see what the verdict is. And whatever it is, we are going to follow it, no matter how you feel about it" his voice was stern, yet gentle. "This does not mean you are any less of an agent, or that you are broken or something. Just that you need some help to get back on your feet, it's been a pretty crazy few months for you"

"We are landing in 10", Nat's voice rang through the back of the Quinjet. "Strap in and get ready, I'll be keeping the cloaking up even on the ground, but they will know our position"

"Roger that" Tony said and smirked at Steve who gave him the side eye. He and his antics.

I nodded at Clint who retreated his hand and went back to the co-pilots seat. I took an extra headset so everyone could hear me with clarity. "Remember. The mission if to find and retrieve Coulson. He is our top priority. We are not going in to kill, we are just knocking people unconscious. I am talking to you Tony and your affinity with missile projectiles", I stared at him.

"I don't know what you are talking about", he fainted ignorance.

"Sure you don't" I joked back, but I could tell even he was taking this seriously. "We are probably going to face Super Soldiers. They have been trying to find ways to make more of our resident Youngster here, so they will be stronger, more durable, not quite on his level but they can pack a mean punch. They are not doing this with their own free will and whoever handles them will most likely kill them the moment we knock them out. But they are not the enemy, just pawns we have to get through.

"From the moment we leave this jet and they see us, the game is on. They will come at us with everything they can. The ghost town is pretty extensive, so we need to find where Coulson is and fast. I will try to locate him and let everyone know as soon as I can. We move in fast, we move in efficiently. There is no time to waste. Everyone ready?", I finished as I activated my mask and gauntlets.

I saw everyone nod as I felt the Quinjet landing. In an instant, we were all on our feet, the hold door dropping to let us out, buildings upon buildings in the area, all seemingly abandoned.

I was the first to exit, crouching down, and placing my palm on the dusted, dry soil, as I let my powers expand like spiderwebs under the ground.

I felt more than saw the others gather around me, ready to go. And not a few seconds later, a bunch of Centipede Soldiers came running in our direction, ready to engage. "Give Quake as much time as possible", Captain Rogers called and headed to meet the oncoming assault.

I kept my focus on vibrations of the earth around me. I felt time slow down, as our teams clashed with the Soldiers, their vibrations clashing with what I was looking for. I redirected my powers to the first building, trying to get a mental image of its layout and what was inside it. There was no heartbeat in there. Empty.

I moved to the next one.

And to the next one.

In the background I could hear the fight going on, some grunts from Steve, the Widow Bites from Nat, Clint's trick arrows going off, as well as Tony's thrusters as he moved through the air. We were gaining ground and would soon have incapacitated all of them. We fought a whole army of Chitauri. A few well-trained soldiers would not hold for too long.

So, I kept searching. Building after building, letting my powers quickly scan for the presence of a person. I had gone through 5 building.

6…

7…

8…

9—

There! Two clear heartbeats, one that I had associated with Coulson's, beating rapidly, in distress. The other calm, if not slightly sped up.

I lifted my hand from the ground, and then straighten up. A goal in mind, and nothing would stop me from getting there. With determination, I started running that direction. My hand went to the comms I had in my ear. "Got him. Fifth building as you move west. Making my way now, I will signal when I get there"

I sped up, directing my arms to the floor and sending a wave that pushed me to the air, and over the heads of the fighting Avengers. Pushing against the air behind me, I sent myself closer to my direction, rolling over as I made contact with the earth and just keep running.

I found myself redirecting some of my power to my feet, boosting my steps and running faster than I had ever before to get to my destination. I was almost there when I heard the gut wrenching scream of Coulson begging to die.

The door of the house was torn to millions of pieces as I walked through it, and saw who had to be Raina on the panel of a machine that Coulson was hooked in. She was whispering something to him, but then stopped the moment she realised she wasn't alone.

Without much thought, I lifted my hand, sending a wave to her chest, her back crashing with the opposite wall. I made sure not to break anything. I might not have been an expert on whatever this machine was, but I was versed enough with technology to be able to turn it off. My hands slightly shook as Coulson kept asking to die.

"Agent Coulson, come back", I called to him as soon as the machine was turned off. "Come back. Come on, Phil, come back", I held him down as he thrashed around. His calls seemed to quiet down, before he eventually passed out, hopefully from exhaustion and nothing else. I realised I never called for the others, but Coulson's screams were definitely heard.

I didn't want to move him, so instead turned to Raina who was still on the wall looking at this interaction. As soon as my attention was at her she seemed to breath out a word, or more accurately a name.

"Daisy…"

My hand on its own lifted towards her again, as I pined her to the wall. The Doctor flashing briefly in my mind. Before I could answer her, a phone rang in the room. A phone that was in her pocket.

I came closer to her, not letting her move an inch, as I reached in and took it from her, flipping it open. I heard her let a grunt as I pushed more with my powers when I saw the name on the call.

Clairvoyant.

"Tee, track the call and put it only in my comms", I called out. Without waiting to see if T.A.D.A.S.H.I. would have done so, I pressed answer.

"Hello, Skye", I heard a computer voice in my ear. "You have been looking for me"

"I'd think it's only fair after you tried to kill me", I answered. I had to stall as much as I could.

"Now, now, why so hostile? You are alive, are you not? Ian Quinn had a lot to say about you, he was so impressed by you and your skills", it might have been processed through a computer, but even I could hear the sarcasm there.

"What do you want?", I could hear Tee telling me how much longer he needed.

"What I want you cannot give me. Or… maybe you already have", and with that there was an electrical shock that ran through the phone, making me drop it as it self destroyed.

"The connection was severed before I managed to pin point his location", I heard Tee through the mask.

Great, I thought as I turned back to Raina who was still pinned, the trails of a grimace on her face no matter how much she tried to hide it. I instantly pulled back some of my powers, holding her in place, but not crushing her. She took a deep, relieved breath. "Thank you, Daisy".

"That's not my name, lady. Must have hit your head", I said as the others came in. I saw her eyes almost bulge out of her head as she took in the members of my group. "Raina, this is everyone. Everyone, this is Raina. Now that that is out of the way, we need to get agent Coulson out of here"

"Agent Coulson will be fine, it was just induced frequencies to help—"

"Zip it, Flowers", Tony said, his Repulsor pointed at her. And she seemed to know when it was time to speak and when to stay silent.

"Make sure she stays out, I'm going to make a call and see how we proceed", I nodded at the others. Nat and Clint already had a medical kit out and were tending to minor wounds on Coulson.

I stepped out of the house and, as soon as I was far enough, pressed on where the earrings that Tony gave me should be and deactivated the mask. I took a gulp of air, my mind reeling back to the name that Raina called me. I saw as my hand trembled. Maybe Clint did have a point, not that I would ever admit it to his face.

I took a deep breath and centred myself. Like May had taught me so many years ago. We didn't have a lot of time, I'd prefer for Coulson to get properly attended to as soon as possible. "Call him up", I said to the U.I. and the secure call almost immediately went through.

"Is he okay?", was the first thing he asked the moment he picked up. I thought I heard Maria on the background sigh in relief.

"He's alive, unconscious but alive. We won't know more until he's awake. What should we do? Raina, the girl in the flower dress is here, and I don't want to take her to the Tower. Taking either to the Tower would raise even more suspicions. What should we do?"

There was a momentary pause as he contemplated what to do. "Remember when I said we are already making noise?"

I was the one flying us to the nearest S.H.I.E.L.D. secure facility, the one that May had also flown the Bus. Apparently from agent Hands attempts to root out Centipede labs and find Coulson their search had brought them fairly close to our location.

I kept my focus on piloting when I heard Coulson come to with a grunt. "You are okay", I heard Natasha tell him, as Clint supplied, "Take it easy."

"Romanoff?" I heard him call out. "Barton?"

"Most of the gang is here", my sister answered. After that I decided to put some music on, frown out the conversation that I could not be a part of whatsoever. It was one thing that he just started getting used to me as Skye, he would have no idea that I was also Quake. I didn't want to have to deal with this as well.

However much time passed, until someone came to sit next to me, and I turned to see it was my brother. He didn't say anything, just put his own set on and stayed at the front with me.

When we got closer to the base, I verified our entrance. "S.H.I.E.L.D. tower, Avengers Zero-One-Foxtrot 5 miles west, requesting landing clearance".

"Avengers Zero-One-Foxtrot, S.H.I.E.L.D. tower enter left downwind runaway 2", I heard the reply from the agent on duty, and then proceeded to talk with him and land in properly. From where I guided the Quinjet, I could see the Bus in all of its glory, with agent Hand, Morse, May and Ward close by, as well as a handful of other agents and S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles.

When we parked, I found myself looking back, as the doors opened for those aboard to exit. Everyone was standing, Coulson's back was turned on me, Natasha and Steve on either of his sides. "Keep it running, we won't stay long", I told Clint and got up from my seat to go towards Raina who was looking at me with a smile on her face.

When everyone started walking down, I started escorting Raina as well. "Destiny cannot be avoided, Daisy. We are bound to meet again" she said and I just chose to pretend to ignore her.

As soon as we closed in on agent Hand, she motioned with her hand and a few agents came over to take Raina and I joined the other two Avengers at the front. I could feel her stare as she was escorted away.

"Just got off the phone with Headquarters. Director Fury let me know of your arrival", Hand said as we got closer. "Good to see you are okay, agent Coulson"

"I understand you've been busy, from what agents Romanoff and Barton said. I really appreciate the help in trying to find me" Coulson said as he moved closer to her.

"Seems like all hands on deck were called for your retrieval", she nodded towards us. "There are certain topics we need to discuss. I shall see you upstairs", she told him matter-of-factly.

"Very well", he said and turned to us. "Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers, Quake. Thank you for finding me, please also give Mr. Stark and agent Barton my thanks once more", he nodded with a warm smile on his face. As his eyes passed through all of us, I thought that his gaze lingered on me, for just a second longer. Just my mind playing games at me, I thought, and turned to look at agent Hand as he left with Morse and Ward following him and asking him questions.

"We wouldn't want to keep you", I said. The voice changer that Tony had included coming in handy. "I understand you have a lot to do, from questioning Raina to filling in agent Coulson, correct?"

"As you probably already know, she is headed straight to headquarters for questioning, not my line of expertise" she came closer to me, towering over me slightly, but I wouldn't be intimidated by her in any way or capacity. "I am curious, how did you find agent Coulson? After all, you didn't know he was even alive, correct?"

I smiled under the mask, not that she could see it, and channeled the best Maria Hill impression that I could. "Unfortunately, agent Hand, your Clearance is not high enough for this information. Should you have any further questions on the matter, you should try to contact Director Fury. But he is a very busy man", I nodded and the others started walking back. "Have a good day".

I joined them and we soon were back in the sky, heading towards the Tower. I let Clint fly this time, I was barely holding it together. I looked up from where I had placed my head on my hands, to see Tony and Steve, sitting silently opposite me, both their eyes a bit glassy. And Steve's face held a very determined expression that I had a feeling would lead to some interesting confrontation soon. Probably with Fury.