AN: Here we go with the start of the E02. Thank you MegaDiary123 and I will see you lots next weekend!

All rights go to Marvel

Skye's POV

I arrived at the airfield from where we would fly off and got off the car that Pepper had arranged for me to take. I could see the questioning look from Ward at the cargo hold, before he disappeared up the stairs and probably to the briefing room. I was only informed that we had a mission, so I still had to learn what the mission was about.

"Hello Skye" Jemma greeted me as she walked out of her lab with Fitz hot on her heels. Well, some things never seemed to change.

"Hey, here let me take that" the boy said as he took the sack from my shoulder while I carried the black case.

"Thanks Fitz" I smiled at him. "So, how were the last couple of days for you guys? Boring?" I asked as we walked up the stairs and towards my bunk.

"Nothing too exciting happened, that's for sure. Nothing much to do in this airborne mobile command station" with that he placed my bag on the floor and then turned around, smirking at me. "But you can call it the Bus. You know, we find it best use shorthand when in the field, because of the danger" the way that he said the last word had me almost doubling with laughter.

Oh boy. Fitz was way over his head. "You know I know all that, right?" I asked, still not able to fully contain the giggles that escape my lips. "I am a fully badged agent and have been on the field. Trust me, I have seen far more 'danger'…" I said mimicking his pronunciation "…than you have"

I could see the red creeping up Fitz's cheeks and he was just about to reply when May's voice came through the speakers. "Wheals up in two. Lock it or lose it"

"I guess this is it then" I said to FitzSimmons. "have to talk with agent Coulson after all" I waved them off and placed the case on my bed. The science twins had just left and as I turned around to look for the leader of this team, I saw Ward approach me with a frown on his face. Well, I had promised both Coulson and Hill that I would try, so let us try. I took a deep breath and started, "Hey, I know we didn't really had the–" but of course didn't get the chance to finish.

"You better read that" he just said as he handed me the pamphlet of the Bus and then just walked off.

"Peachy" I whispered in the direction where the stubborn robot had just disappeared to.

"What's peachy?"

Coulson appeared out of the blue. I smiled at him and decided that talking about my very healthy relationship with Ward was not what he wanted to hear about. "This ride" I started as we both strolled towards the sofas. "It's pretty sweet. I have been on some aircrafts before, mainly Quinjets. None compare to this. How did you get this beauty?"

"I earned a little good will from director Fury because of the sceptre piercing my heart. Got a few months R&R in Tahiti and this plane. Had it completely refurnished, spared no expense" he explained as we sat down and buckled up.

"Tahiti, huh? Never been there, how was it?" I asked, withholding any information I could get so that I would ask our pristine director when we meet.

"It's a magical place"

Soon the engines started and we took off to… somewhere? "So, where are we going?" I eventually asked.

"Peru, more specifically in Llactapata" he declared and threw the mission file on the table in front of us. "That's where an 0-8-4 was reported. We need to follow protocol and assess how big of a threat it poses"

Huh, I thought. The last time I was in a mission involving an 0-8-4 was my first ever mission with May back in the Academy. It's been a while. "What was your last 0-8-4 mission, mine was quite… memorable" I concluded.

"Mine was quite interesting as well to be honest" he said with a smirk full of pride that had me raising an eyebrow. "It was a hammer" I could hear the happiness in his voice which had the edges of my lips tilt upwards. After a while in the comfortable silence that filled the air he looked at me and then his gaze dropped to my sling. "Has Simmons cleared you out?"

"Nope" I said, popping the 'p' for emphasis.

"You might want to head down to the lab then" he said as soon as the seatbelts-on sign disappeared. "We still have a few hours until we reach Peru, that should be more than enough time for your physical"

"Yes, sir" I made a move to stand up but was stopped when I heard my name being called.

"When it's just us you don't need to be so formal. 'Coulson' will do just fine, or even 'agent Coulson' if you feel more comfortable with that. But please drop the 'sir'. It makes me feel old" he said and shivered at the last word.

This was more of the Coulson that I remembered and it warmed me on the inside. "You are the boss, Coulson. Your wish is my command" I said playfully and was glad to receive a giggle from him as I walked down the stairs.

For some reason, as I looked at Jemma waiting for me to examine my shoulder, my mind traveled back to the first night at the Avengers Tower and the punching bag and I had a feeling how much of a scolding I was about to get from the British agent.

"Oh, come on Jemma! I can totally go on the field!" I told her, as she headed towards Coulson's office. Pleaded would be a more accurate word now that I think about it, but who cares. "You said it yourself, I can totally fire a handgun with my left" I tried to reason as I stopped her right before she knocked on the door.

"This isn't up for discussion Skye" she said with her 'doctor's' voice on which left no room for argument. Well, there was always room for argument when it came to my conversations with Jemma but that was irrelevant. "I don't know what you did when you were off seeing your friends, but you didn't follow my instructions that's for sure. If you had, then I would be more than happy to clear you for active duty, but that shoulder needs at least another full day of rest before you even think about physical training" and before I had the chance to even say anything she was knocking on the door and the superior agent was asking us both to walk in.

That was how I ended up staying behind on the Bus while the others went to evaluate the 0-8-4. We landed quite late in the afternoon in Peru so we had to work in a relatively hurry. Didn't want the night to catch us while we were still out in the open. It would be a lot better if we had secured the artefact and were on our way back by the time the sun set.

"So, what am I supposed to do from here?" I asked as the team was divided into two groups, for each group to reach the 0-8-4's location in a different vehicle.

"We know that the locals are already dealing with anti-mining rebels and the Shining Path guerrillas. Wouldn't want them to worry about anything else. So, if it gets out I will need you to post something irrelevant. Create some kind of diversion and put the public on the wrong scent" he said. "You can only use one hand so it's better for you either way to stay here were you are closer to any computers. Plus, you will have communications up here, so you will know exactly what's going on in the field" By the time he finished talking May and Ward had already boarded one car and he headed to the one with FitzSimmons to start his drive. He opened the vehicle door and turned to me saying "Just stay out of the cockpit", before taking the driver's seat and going off to the location.

I found myself bored not even ten minutes since I was left alone. And just because Coulson told me not to, the idea of going the cockpit was so tempting at the moment. But something held me back, as I knew that it was May's space and I had a feeling that she would know if I stepped in her sacred place.

I listened as Jemma and Fitz talked about science and not only stuff, Fitz being particularly fascinated by monkeys. Coulson was mainly talking with the authorities, letting the two scientists work and May and Ward discuss nothing in particular. What I did find interesting was that when Ward called May "the Cavalry" her reply was a sharp "Don't call me that". I hadn't heard such a definite tone from her since I was in the Academy. True, I hadn't really kept in touch with her and hadn't as much as seen her since our mission together, so I guessed I had a lot of catching up to do. When I was hacking S.H.I.E.L.D. to make sure that everyone was okay the only info I had gotten on May was her transfer to Administration, which struck me as strange, but I never really got deep enough to see the reason for her transfer. Hm… Maybe I could–

My inner monologue was cut short when the sound of gunshots filled my ears.

Shit. I was useless in here. I had no idea what was happening and all I wanted was to make sure that everyone was okay. "Coulson, what's your status?" I asked in my earpiece only to get no reply. "Coulson, come in" I said after a few seconds.

I let out a sigh of relief when I heard his voice. "It's all good here, a small misunderstanding with the Peruvian militia police. Comandante Camilla Reyes joined in with her squad"

I had never heard of that name before, but the way that Coulson was pronouncing it, it gave me a feeling that he knew her well. There was on disturbance in the other side of the coms, so I decided, what the hell. I might as well try to find as much information on this Comandante as I could. However, just as I was about to start typing, new gunfire filled my ears and all my attention was diverted to that.

"Coulson, what is happening?" There was no reply and I knew that this time it was different from before as I heard a lot more commotion, noise and the firing had yet to stop, accompanied with explosions. "Anyone, come in" I said, linking my earpiece to the whole team, hoping one would be able to provide an answer.

"Ramp" I heard the commanding voice of May. As I was running down the spiral staircase she continued. "We are coming in hot. Hostiles on our six. Coulson is right behind us" she said in such a rapid succession that I almost didn't catch all that.

I pressed the bottom for the cargo hold to drop as I took my handgun off its holster. Just as the ramp touched the ground, one S.H.I.E.L.D. marked vehicle run in and parked on.

May run out of the car and headed inside, probably to the cockpit to prepare for take off, Ward just got off and went to stand by where I had been minutes ago ready to close the ramp the moment Coulson was safe. And I run towards FitzSimmons as two cars approached fast, bullets flying in the air.

I grabbed Jemma from her elbow and threw her behind me, making sure she was safe. "Get off the ramp. You are in the line of fire" I said and sensed them both backing away which let me focus on the events unfolding in front of me.

Along with Ward we covered Coulson and a bunch of other people dressed in military clothes before we managed to take off. By the time we were off the ground I could hear everyone panting and I turned around to see the two scientists on the floor in the corner and, especially Fitz, drenched in sweat.

"Now, what's going on?" Coulson said as he moved towards the boy.

"As I was saying" Fitz started taking a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart, "the 0-8-4 has a high-frequency, fluctuating sub-material compression–"

"Fitz" Ward raised his voice in frustration, not understanding a word the Scottish was saying. "In English"

Another breath was taken by Fitz who was clearly trying to calm his nerves. He must have been so fed up with Ward for him to act like that. "It is fuelled by Tesseract technology" he tried to simplify. "Hydra, World War II. Captain America! It's full of lethal amounts of gamma radiation"

Ward looked at him in question. "Gamma? You are saying its nuclear" he tried to understand.

"No" I spoke and all eyes turned on me as my voice held some dread. "He is saying it's much, much worse". With that everyone looked back at the device and took a step away

Despite managing to calm everyone down a bit but and take the device inside the lab for further inspection, the argument started again as soon as Fitz and Ward walked in. The two of them started arguing like young boys, and not trained agents. Jemma was trying to stay civil, but even her at some point was dragged into the whole argument when Ward decided to declare how he, and I quote, "Would have eliminated the enemy threat himself, if he was working alone and not with non-combat-ready-agents". Yup. That struck a nerve that even Jemma's proper manners didn't allow.

"These people don't really like each other, do they?" I whispered at Coulson who had entered the lab and was watching and waiting, until he didn't anymore.

"You are not wrong" he said, replying to me, but his voice made the others stop talking. "We still need to iron out the kinks. But Ward, you can speak six languages. Simmons, you have 2 PhDs in fields I can't pronounce and Fitz, you are a rocket scientist" he looked at every one of them with intensity. "So work it out". Without as much as another word he backed away and led Comandante Reyes to his office.

"I-I am good at stuff too" I called back but he had already left…

Everyone from the team basically separated after that. I would love to stay down in the lab with Jemma, only to make sure that she was alright, but I knew that the best stress-relieving regiment for her at the moment was working on something and the beast person she would do that with was Fitz. I would only be in the way, so it was best I took myself out of this equation before that happened.

So, I went to the only place I could think of for the moment and that was my newly appointed home, my bunk.

I could see from the airplane windows that night had fallen, yet I knew that I wouldn't get any sleep that night. My adrenaline was still too high after what happened. And me not being in the situation, not being able to help still didn't sit well in my stomach.

I looked at the Hula girl who was shaking from the plane's engines. I could imagine Jemma looking me through her present and I furrowed my eyebrows at it.

"What?" I asked her. She just continued shaking, more forcefully than before, as if to answer my question. "Hey! It's not my fault, I tried okay. He doesn't want to listen". I was expecting her to continue shake left and right, only for her to suddenly stop as if asking me 'Seriously?'. I narrowed my eyes at her and she seemed to stare right back at me. I huffed and threw my hands in the air. "Fine, fine! I'll talk to him, satisfied?" And with that the Hula girl started shaking again like she was happy with my reply. "I hate you too" I playfully told her before getting up and exiting my room.

I walked to Ward's bunk only to find it empty and so I guessed that he would be in the common room, which was indeed where I found him.

He was so absorbed in his book that he didn't even notice me approaching. I couldn't let that pass. "Divergent?" I asked him and moved closer.

"Matterhorn" he replied and showed me to cover of the book. "One of a hundred books my S.O. gave me that I'm getting around"

"Huh" I exclaimed. "Mine gave me Hunger Games" I said quietly to myself, thinking about Clint and how important it was for me to read a book with a girl and a bow.

"What?" Ward's voice was full of frustration and his trademark questioning look accompanied his question.

"Nevermind" I brushed it off. "I feel you and me… wrong foot. How about I 'buy you a drink'?" I asked, offering some of the whiskey that I found in the Bus' bar.

He closed his book and pointed to the seat in front of him for me to take. I sat down and poured the drink in his glass.

"What, no drink for you?" He asked when he notice that I had only brought one glass with me.

"Couldn't carry two glasses even if I wanted to" I pointed out with a smirk, lifting my sling a little bit for emphasis. He lifted both shoulders nonchalantly and sat back in his seat, looking at me, waiting for me to continue. "I have a feeling like we are back at the Academy, like how when we started and you hated me"

"I didn't hate you" he was fast to reply. When I lifted an eyebrow at him he lifted his hands in a non-threatening way. "I didn't. Hate you that is. I just didn't like you"

"And you still don't" I supplied and when he didn't say anything at that I knew I hit home. "Look, I know you are used to working alone, but that doesn't have to be the only way for you to succeed in a mission. Trust me, I've been there and it's harder when you are alone. I am a specialist as well" I could tell that he didn't believe me when I said that but I stared him until he backed down. True, we never truly said the word 'specialist', but having an overall training from Clint, Natasha and Maria, alongside the fact that I was an Avenger… well I think that the title 'specialist' was something I had earned. "As I was saying, I know when you are used to working alone, it might be hard to accept help at the beginning. You are used to being the working alone that you don't see how hard it really is. This is what a team is all about"

"Okay…" he dragged out the word like he didn't really understand what I was saying.

I moved a little bit in my seat so that I was facing him better and went on to explain. "You are trained to think of the whole solution. But sometimes, one person doesn't have the solution. But if you take a team? Take you for example, without me in the equation. Before I came along you were a team of 5. So instead of you having to think of the solution yourself, 5 people with 20% of the solution? That will get it done. Like pieces solving a puzzle" I tried to make my point.

He seemed to contemplate my answer before taking a sip from his drink. "You and I see the word differently that's all"

"We always have and always will" I replied playfully which earned a smirk from him and I took that as a win. That was when I noticed some red stains in his white shirt. "Hey, did you get shot?" I asked.

"Skin deep, nothing to worry about" he brushed it off.

I was just about to reply, when I heard something. "Cockpit" I thought I heard May's voice in my head. My brows knit together in confusion as saw Ward's blank expression which meant that he hadn't heard the voice. "I am not going to repeat myself" she said again and then I realised that I hadn't taken my earpiece from the mission off.

"Ward, go and see Simmons about the wound". He made a move to protest but I stood up and lifted my hand to silence him. "I know it doesn't bother you, but this is a team. And no matter how upset you are with one another, I guarantee that she will bite your head off for not going to her sooner, I've been there. So please, just go. If only to verify that it is indeed nothing" I didn't wait to hear his reply as I strode off.