AN: Hey guys. As always, many thanks to MegaDiary123 for Beta-ing this and all chapters. I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you all for the support for this story.

All rights go to Marvel

Skye's POV

After not really talking to the pilot I went back downstairs to the lab. I sat quietly and watched as the science twins worked. They would murmur words here and there but other than that it was as if they spoke telepathically. Before I knew it was time to meet the others, so after checking my clock once more I called them over and together we headed to the upper floor.

My file, with all the information on Mike was on the holo-table. The moment the three of us stepped inside Coulson started bringing everyone up to speed. "Michael Peterson, factory worker, married, one kid. Gets injured, gets laid off. Wife jumps ship. Good guy, bad breaks" he stopped walking around the table and folded his arms over his chest. "Best guess is somebody tells him they can make him stronger again, make him super"

"Who has the tech to do that?" A voice that I heard for the first time since I boarded this plane was heard. "And why would they want to?"

My head snapped up as my eyes trained on the woman who must have been then one who was in the cockpit. The voice, in combination with the face, let me know who she was without her having to introduce herself. May…

My mind went blank for a minute before Fitz started speaking and I focused on the screen where a CCTV feed was shown. "Well the man is angry at the other man"

I rolled my eyes at that. Seriously Fitz? You spent a good solid half an hour to come up with that? And the silence that filled the room let me know that everyone was thinking the same as me. So, of course and Jemma had to jump in to rescue him from complete humiliation. "The data is very corrupt"

"Yeah" Fitz scoffed. "Like Cold War Russia corrupt. I can't sync the time code without–"

Well that was something I could work with. "What if you had the audio?" I interrupted him and every person in the room turned to look at me. "I have been running surveillance in the lab for a while now, so I had a mic pointed at the window and placed nearby. It was destroyed when the blast occurred but I have the digital files in my van. There is too much background noise for me, but you could probably–"

"You can clean that up, can't you?" Simmons jumped in turning towards her partner. "Find a sync point and use cross-invalidation" and that was how they started speaking in their own language and getting lost in an argument that didn't sound like English to anyone but the two of them.

I knew that the two of them could get lost in their heads so I called them out. "FitzSimmons" I looked at them intently and they seemed to snap back to reality.

"That audio would be great thank you very, very much" Fitz said at the same time Jemma replied with "We will take that audio please", followed by a kind smile.

"Your van's here, as you know, wanna head down and work on it?" Coulson asked.

"I won't be able to encrypt the files from here. The encryption's coupled to the GPS. Get my van back to that alley and then I'm in business" I started heading outside.

"If you knew you were being picked up by a S.H.I.E.L.D. team why link it to the GPS?" Ward had to ask.

I turned around to look at him. "Because, Ward. For whatever reason, and despite my confidence in my skills, someone could have intercepted my video and track me down before you did. It was a failsafe in case something went wrong"

Coulson cut in, trying to end this argument. "Agent May will escort you"

One look at the back and I could tell that May wasn't too keen in spending alone time with me. I knew it had been some time since the last time that I saw her, but she seemed so different so… cold, comparing to my memory of her. And despite me wanting to talk with her, the situation didn't thrill her and I didn't want to bother. "It's okay, I can go on my own"

"It was not a question. Unless it's extremely important I never send one agent alone and this doesn't classify in the category. You and agent May will head to the alley, do your part and then head back here. Understood?" His tone wasn't harsh, he just didn't leave any room for disagreement.

"Yes, sir" I smiled kindly and looked back at May, waiting for her to lead the way to the cargo hold.

May's POV

"Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?" Skye asked while driving towards the alley. Ever since we started making our way to our destination no-one has said a thing and the tension in the room could be cut with a knife.

Just as I had done for the past twenty minutes, I just stared out of the front window. I would love to have something to do with my hands right now, but seeing as Skye was driving I was just sitting in the shotgun seat doing nothing to help me pass the time. "I'm driving on the way back" I broke the new wave of silence that enfolded us

"Nope" She replied taking a sharp turn left while popping the 'p'.

I stared at her, and I knew she knew I was staring at her as my expression said it all. "Wanna try that again?", it was as if I was asking.

"My van, my rules. Plus, I am fairly confident my Clearance Level surpasses yours at the moment, so you really don't have any saying in the matter" we reached the alley and she pulled the handbrake, coming to a full stop.

I immediately stood and went to exit the vehicle from the side door. The reason I would go with her if asked was that this was protocol and since Skye would be working from in here I had to be the one keeping a look out and making sure the area was secure. But I think that Skye knew as well that I just needed my space. I was too overcrowded for one day, first having to drive the two scientists to the field and now this. I knew she wanted to ask and just before I managed to exit her voice stopped me.

"Melinda" she called just as my hand reached the door handle and I stopped my movement. I could tell that she was tired with the whole situation just by the sound of her voice. "Look, I don't mean to push, okay? I haven't seen you in years and today hasn't been the best day for me. I found out that Phil was alive, but he doesn't remember me. I have been beating myself up for the last couple of years hoping that I could have somehow saved him and then I have this blow up in my face. And then, I see you but you are not the same person you were. True, it's been many years since then. Hell, I am not the same person I was back in the day. I just wanted to say that I am sorry. Sorry if for whatever reason I did anything to hurt you, I am sure I didn't mean it. And I will leave you alone from now on. But just so you know, if you need anything all you have to do is find me"

I stood there for a few seconds before grabbing the door handle. "Let's get this over with and head back" I said as I exited and left her to work on her computers. She let out a sigh but didn't ask any more questions.

As I was surveying the area I stole glances of Skye typing codings on her computer and talking at Fitz on the phone at the same time. She had been right. We were different since the last time we met. I knew what had happened to me, a lot of people thought they did but only a trusted few knew the actual story of what occurred in 2008.

The main question in my mind was what had happened to Skye?

I didn't know that she was back in S.H.I.E.L.D. and that had me wondering whether the others knew. They hadn't mentioned anything the last time we spoke. And what was that, that she said, about Phil not remembering her? What was it that occurred those years we were apart that transformed her into the mature person I had in front of me? No more was she the young, reserved girl that I knew, and nowhere in sight was her bubbly side that she had reserved for when she spoke with Natasha, Clint, Phil or myself. And then, she said that she has a higher Clearance Level than me?

From the moment I laid my eyes on her I could tell that she was tired. But it was not the type of exhaustion that happened because she didn't sleep well at night. No, this tiredness I knew all too well. It was the type that was built inside over time.

"That should do it" she said as she closed her laptop screen.

I nodded at her and decided to at least speak to her. I knew it mustn't have been easy for her to keep quiet for so long. "Let's head back" I said as I stepped closer to the van.

I was just about to climb in when someone fell from the sky and pushed me to the side of the van. I barely managed to turn around and see who it was before he grabbed onto my jacket and, with more strength than he should have, threw me to the wall making me fall to the ground and black out.

When I came to, my head was pounding. I jolted up only to see that the van was nowhere in sight. Cursing I supported myself on the wall I had bounced off before and called Coulson.

"May" he said

"He took Skye" I told him, not even bothering placing the word 'agent' before her name.

He paused on the other end of the line before he continued. "You're all right?"

"We'll deal with that later, at length" I grunted. "Right now we need to figure out where they went and when we do, I need someone to come and pick me up" I said before ending the call.

This didn't make any sense. I knew what Skye could do. Or at least what she used to be able to do, but I highly doubted that she was any less trained than the last time that I saw her, she did become an agent after all. So I was certain that Skye would be okay, and I believed that she could have taken the guy out. Hell, I could have easily done that myself had he not surprised me by almost jumping on my shoulders. So why would she let him take her?