AN: Good morning. I know I uploaded a few hours earlier than normal, but it is about 8am here and its going to be a busy day for me, so I didn't want to keep you waiting. Many thanks to my awesome Beta MegaDiary123 and to all of you for reviewing the story with your thoughts I always appreciate it. So... yeah. I hope you enjoy the chapter

All rights go to Marvel

Natasha's POV

"Skye!" I screamed into my comm when I heard her telling Tony to take the CEO away. I screamed her name and only a second later the whole of Stark Expo enfolded in explosions. We had parted ways with Happy just after we finished from Hammer Industries and I rebooted Rhode's suit. I had called in to let S.H.I.E.L.D. know my status and what was going on from someone on the ground. Coulson was sent to New Mexico, along with Clint and so I was left with Maria Hill picking the phone before handing it over to Fury. I quickly filled him in the situation and about the lack of reply from Skye.

I wanted to head straight to the site of the many explosions and start the search for my sister as soon as possible, but Fury made me see logic saying that anything could collapse at any moment if we did not take the proper precautions. So, there I was, sitting not so patiently and waiting for the team that the director send to get ready for the search to start.

"What the hell happened here?" Maria Hill asked as soon as she stepped next to me.

We were looking down at the debris that filled the surrounding area as far as our eyes could see. My gaze didn't stop searching for any sign of Skye while I answered. "Hammer and Vanko. That's what happened". I turned my head to see what was taking the rest of the team so long. "Are you guys ready or what?" I snapped.

"Hey!" Maria instantly said. "They haven't done anything wrong. You know the procedure for situations where explosives are in play" she all but pushed my shoulder to emphasise her words.

My eyes were once more focused on the ruins, not sparing a look at Maria who I was sure was still carefully watching me. "Even so, they are taking too long" I ended up saying.

All Maria could do was let out a sigh. Silence filled the air and for a few seconds all I heard was the sound of the agents wearing their suits. Maria and I were already in our protection gear. I was sure that everyone could feel the energy and need for action leaving my body in waves. Finally, finally, everyone was ready and we started making our way through what used to be the Stark Expo in all its glory. We would check everywhere we could and then quickly moved on. Slowly and steadily we continued making our way towards what once was the main pavilion, where Hammer did his presentation. Skye shouldn't have been far from there, since when I left she was in the backstage with Pepper going over the systems and helping hack Vanko.

The building had completely collapsed and there were quite a few heavy chunks of stones that the agents would, more often than not, pick up to check underneath in case there was still any explosive devices or in best case scenario, Skye herself.

I had strained my ears, trying to pick up any sign of Skye's presence. In one ear I had the coms that the team had and on the other I would have the one connected to the one Skye should still have on her. Normally all of our communication devices had a tracking system, but since Skye had yet to return to S.H.I.E.L.D., I didn't want anyone to get the idea of tracking her because of something that I gave her and so I had disabled this specific function.

I was shaken from my thoughts when a hand landed on my shoulder. "We will find her" Maria spoke from behind me and I threw her hand off me. "We better do" I replied, my eyes still scanning the area.

We kept going like that for what seemed to be hours for me. I kept on noticing the worrying glances that Maria was sending me. I didn't mind the agent, but I was not very fond of her either. She did care for my sister, her being her main trainer for the short period that she stayed in the Academy. But she is the person that I blamed for losing her. She was supposed to soon be her S.O. and despite that she lost her. She was the reason why I had years to hear from her. But she left the Academy and gained a position closer to Coulson and Fury, so the instances when I met with her for mission briefs along with Clint had increased a lot the past couple of years. It was pretty hard to continue keeping a grudge against her, because she wasn't an easy person to dislike. She reminded me of myself a lot of times. But now, Skye was once again kind of missing and she was here worrying about me snapping to the agents.

We were divided into teams, as to cover more ground quicker that we would have otherwise. Of course, I was in the same team as Maria with another guy helping us lift the heavy chunks. So far we had found absolutely nothing and it was getting on my nerves. So, when we lifted one piece of the building that had fallen and I noticed that there was an intact corridor underneath I, without a second thought, docked and went into the darkness. Without my support lifting the thing, the stone fell back to its initial place trapping me inside.

"Romanoff" I heard Maria's angry voice in my ear. "What's your status?"

"Though I'm very touched to hear you worrying about me, I'm fine. There was this corridor under the piece that we lifted and thought of checking it out. I highly doubt I'll run out of oxygen by the time you find a way for me to get out and I'll be fast enough to check this place out by the time you create the exit" I replied and started making my way through the unfamiliar environment.

I heard a sigh from the other end of the comms but no further reprimand, which I was sure I would get an earful of once out of this whole situation. I unsheathed the flashlight and resumed making my way, taking in everything in case I caught sight of Skye. This whole situation reminded me of the way that I found her the first time, something more than a decade ago… how fast time seemed to pass. Thankfully this time though there was no door where Skye was hidden behind. Only a tone of debris all over the place, which made me look closely to each one of them in case Skye was somehow underneath them.

But no, Skye was not under any of the ruins that were all over. She was lying on the ground, close to a wall, with her face on the ground.

"Skye!" I screamed even if I knew deep down that she would not be able to listen to me.

"Natasha, what's going on?" Maria's voice filled my ears as she must have heard my previous cry.

Paying no attention to the question asked, I ran up to the limp body of the woman and fell to my knees. Carefully I turned her body so that she was facing the ceiling instead of the ground and gently placed her head on my lap. Maria still wanted an update on the situation, but all my focus was on Skye who had not even moved. I placed a couple of fingers on her neck and let out a heavy sigh when I found her pulse.

My adrenaline was now at its peak, but I managed to relax a little bit since I knew that she was safe. I lifted he hand and pressed my earpiece, just to make sure that Maria would get what I was about to say clearly. "I have Skye. She is alive. Unconscious, but alive"

As soon as the rest of the team found us we called in for backup, because we had no idea what kind of injuries Skye might have had. There was a quinjet which came to pick up Skye and only a couple more agents and headed straight to the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility where the director would meet up with us. Of course, Maria rode in he quinjet with me and we both watched, in silence and not being able to do anything to help, as a doctor that was onboard assessed the state that my sister was in.

And so, this was how I ended up sitting in a chair in an office in the medical facility.

Skye's many injuries were listed before me in a paper which I had already gone through half a dozen times, memorising every detail. The occurrences in which she was thrown off the ground because of an explosion or thrown in general were too concentrated for her to escape it without a scratch.

She also must have pushed her shoulder quite a lot while helping me hack into Hammer industries when they were controlled by Ivan Vanko, since it was once again in a sling but was, this time, accompanied by a tight wrap that went from her hand, up her shoulder and around her chest to make sure that it was properly help in place. Her ribs were not getting any better either, but among the rest minor scratches and bruises she gained the most alarming was her head. She had bumped it, again, probably when she was caught up when the Hammeroid blew. That, combined with the concussion that she got from when fighting in Monaco and the explosion in the Stark mansion… well, it was just not good news.

"Natasha" Fury's voice echoed as he entered the office.

I did respect the man, he was the director of the organisation after all and a main reason why I was not killed after the Red Room. But we both knew that I was not particularly happy with being taken away from Skye, at least not in this particular moment. "Let's get this over with, I have someplace I need to be" I said and watched as Fury slowly went to sit in his chair behind the desk in front of me.

He was holding a folder which he opened and threw on the desk so that I could see what was inside. I already knew what it was though, with no need to read the typed letters on the papers. This was Skye's folder from when she was in the Academy and all the info that we had gathered while looking for her when she first disappeared and the new one since she reappeared. It was a thin folder though, with not a lot of intel, since we could only print what we got quickly before her traces disappeared as she erased herself from any digital existence.

I simply raised an eyebrow, waiting for anything new to listen to. Fury leaned back on his chair and linked his fingers over his stomach. His gaze never left mine though. "I am not gonna lose her again"

"And you thought that I was gonna let this happen? I just found her after years of looking" I replied, never showing any emotion. The sooner we got this over with the better.

Fury actually laughed at my answer. "I was not expecting anything less from you. But can you promise me that if, when she wakes up, she decides to leave that you will not allow her to? She is a great asset and from what I gathered from Maria when she was training her she had the potential to be a great agent. And now she has powers as well? The training that you and Melinda gave her doesn't seem to have completely left her, if the fight in Monaco was any indication" he declared. "So…" and with that he leaned on his desk this time, his hands still linked to each other. "What do you think?"

I took all the info that Fury had said into account. I already knew his intentions when it came to Skye.

Underneath all that talk though I knew that was he was saying was because he cared a lot for her. He would never admit it himself, but if someone knew him long enough, they would be able to read the signs.

He was the one that sent May, Clint, Coulson and I in the 0-8-4 site in the day when we found her. He was always behind the scenes and he had agreed to take her into the Academy when the time came. He was the one who provided all the resources in order to track her when she fell off the grid and he protected her when she made an appearance in Monaco. He was the one who made sure that even though her face was recorded and many news reporters would like to pursue the identity of who this unknown individual with powers was, no-one dared to do so. And it had made Skye's life so much easier when she deleted what was still on the internet about her.

So, yeah. To a third party listening, he might appear as the strict director of the shadow organisation that S.H.I.E.L.D. was at the moment, but deep down he did care a lot.

Realising that it was some time since he asked me my opinion and I had yet to answer, I cleared my throat and started. "I don't think she will want to leave. I told you before that she wanted to come in as soon as Pepper was settled after the whole fiasco and mess that Tony created. And since everything appears to be going pretty well for now, I don't find any reason for her to not want to come in" I honestly said.

Fury seemed to analyse my words for a bit. "You rely on the belief that Skye will keep her word. She left the Academy without leaving a trace behind and you had to seek her for years. What makes you think that she will stay true to what she promised you?"

"We both know that if she wants to disappear she can do so, and trust me when I tell you that we won't be able to find her again" the answer came as soon as Fury formed his curiosity-filled question. "Ever since I met her, if she was one thing, that was honest. Honest to her word. If she promised that she was to come to S.H.I.E.L.D. then she would and I have no doubt about that. And let me tell you–" my sentence was cut short when I noticed that the water-filled glass on the desk started moving. Not the glass itself, but the water seemed to pick up on vibrations.

"Natasha? What happened?" I heard Fury ask at the abrupt way that I stopped talking. His eyes followed mine to the water just as the vibrations picked up and the office shook for only a second before going back still.

"Skye", was all I whispered before bolting out of the room and running to the room where Skye was supposed to be resting. What I found surprised me to no end.

Skye was curled up in the corner, her back against the wall, knees close to her chest and an arm stretched out. I could see the cables that were still on her, measuring her vitals and her heart rate seemed to be over the roof. On top of that she seemed to have somehow ripped the IV off her arm. Even if I was on the other side of the room I could clearly hear her whizzing with every rapid breath she took over the commotion that was happening around us.

With a quick look around the room I noticed that there were a couple of doctors thrown at the other side of the room, probably because of her powers. Another doctor was helping the two of them off the floor while Maria was slowly closing in on Skye with her hand up in a surrendering manner.

I saw Skye's eyes focusing on Maria's form just as her stretched arm started moving to her direction. Shit. "Look out!" I screamed at her and threw myself on top of her to push her out of the way of my sister's vibrations. Just as we landed, ungracefully may I add, on the floor I heard a loud sound from were Maria was previously standing. I turned my head only to see that the medical equipment had taken flight and had violently hit the glass window on the other side of the room, breaking it completely. I noticed that the quake that Skye send hurt her as well, because she was clutching her left side with her good arm. Maria moved beside me, a movement that would most likely lead to her standing up and I pushed her back down. "Stay here" I told her, leaving no room for disagreement.

I slowly got up, with my hands up in the same manner as Maria's previous attempt. Skye quickly saw my movement and extended her arm to throw a wave to my way. I was quick to dodge and saw Skye hiss and clench her aching side.

I leaned closer to the ground, to be more to her eye level. She made no move to extend her arm at my direction, but I had no doubt that she would do so if she felt she was threatened.

The other people in the room had stopped making any kind of sound or movement and all their attention was between mine and Skye's interaction. I looked into my sisters' eyes and saw fear clear in them. What worried me the most though was the lack of recognition when she looked at me. It was as if she was looking at me, but not truly seeing me. That, along with her quick breaths and her whole body language let me know in what state her mind was in.

Flashback.

But what could she possibly have a flashback from? I was wondering what she might have been through those four years that I had no idea where she was. I was slowly moving closer to her but I seemed to have overstepped a boundary as her hand shot up to my direction and instead of dodging I took a few steps back.

This was going to be hard.