AN.1: Hey people! As always, many thank to MegaDiary123 for beta-ing this chapter. I hope you all enjoy.
All rights go to Marvel
Skye's POV
My eyes were stone cold as I stared him down, my expression looking similar to one famous assassin's glare. My jaw was clenched as silence spread in the room, the tension being so high that one could almost touch it. I felt it crawling all over my skin.
"'There are not a lot of people I trust, but you are one of them'" I quoted his words from two years ago when I asked my access to be diminished to that of a consultant because I was untrustworthy. "'I trust you and I am going to increase your Clearance Level to that of Hill's'. Wasn't that about what you said to me after I asked to speak with you in private? Or am I wrong?" I asked him, sarcasm dripping from my voice like venom. When the man did nothing more than continue breathing normally, I resumed. "Have you looked at a dictionary recently Joseph? Because I am pretty sure that the word 'trust' has a different meaning from the one you think it has"
"How did you find that name?" He asked instead of answering. It was so classical of him.
"Does it even matter? This is not what we are discussing here"
"It will be if you continue that" he countered. "No-one calls me that, not even my mother. And trust me when I tell you that you don't want to see me angry"
A dead smile formed on my lips. "I guess now there is someone who calls you that. And if me using that name makes my point come across better, I will use it plenty, Joseph" I looked at him in the eyes, daring him to say something about it. I tilted my head to the side, my lips forming a firm line once more. "And trust is something I don't have when it comes to you. Because it is a double-edged sword, it works both ways. And the problem now is that I don't trust you anymore, not if the events of the last week have anything to do with it. And I am starting to think that I shouldn't have trusted you in the first place, given that you must have started working on bringing back Coulson right after he died and it's been moths, years since then" I straightened my neck again and took a step closer. "So trust me when I tell you, you don't want to see me angry"
As he sat on the chair, he leaned forwards and linked his hands on the desk in front of him. "Now, if what Maria told me about your anger is all there is to it, I don't think I have something to be truly afraid of"
Always trying to have the upper hand. But for once in his life, he had no idea that the tables had turned. "With Hill I was upset. I still am to be honest, but after sleeping on it a couple of nights, I realized that all she did was follow orders, like she always did. Follow your orders that is". I started pacing around the room following an invisible infinity-shaped path so that I never turned my back to him. "It will take her a few weeks in the least but I don't see why I should keep being upset with her for more than that, it was not her fault after all. It is you that I am angry with" I stopped right in front of him, my cold exterior never breaking as my voice had yet to rise. "Angry, not upset. I believe you are smart enough to know the difference"
He wouldn't give me the satisfaction of gulping despite knowing that if I had stared someone else, anyone else for that matter, in the same way I was piercing Fury's skull with my eyes, they would have been frightened. "You think I am in the position I am if I hadn't made people angry?" He challenged.
"I am sure you have" I answered. "But you had not made me angry and I have a lot of people to back me up if need be" I challenged back. Two people could play this game.
"Is that a threat?" He stood up, towering over me.
But his presence didn't feel intimidating in the least. "Damn right it is" I lifted my chin and didn't back down.
He slowly, and what I really mean is so slow that it took him a good solid ten seconds, sat back down and just as slowly reached inside his black, leather coat. A folder with capital, red letter saying "Level 9, Classified Document" appeared and was thrown on the desk in front of me.
"Is this another of your games?" I asked.
"It is not" he answered just as seriously, no hint of laughter whatsoever on his face or voice.
My fingers lingered at the corner of the folder and I brought it closer to me as I examined the cover. "Level 9, huh? Let me guess, this document was sealed from me despite my Clearance because I am an Avenger?" The silence was all that I needed to hear to verify my suspicion. "Trust he says" I whispered to myself, but was sure that Fury picked it up, I didn't really try to hide it in the first place. "So what is this?" I pointed at the documents in my hand.
"It is the truth" he said and then, followed with something that surprised me. "And a sign of good will". It was not the sentence that startled me as much as the tone, of his voice which had lost some of its professional vibe and was, even if a little, soft. As if caring.
I scoffed, masking my surprise. "We both know that you owe me at least that much"
He raised an eyebrow at that. "I don't owe you anything Skye" he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I don't owe anyone anything. What I do, I do because I simply want to"
"Fine" I exclaimed. "Let's just assume that this is a sign of good will, alright? And, what? You think that this is enough to make me loyal to you again?"
His sudden laugh filled the room. "Loyal? You talk to me about loyalty? You would have dismissed my orders the moment you thought that you put someone you care about in danger" he sobered himself. "Let's not kid ourselves, shall we? You were never loyal to me"
"You are right" I said as I stood up, folder in my hand. "You want me to lay my cards out, here they are. I was never loyal to you and I will never be. I cannot when you decide on actions that I am against, and when you keep secrets like those. Who I am loyal to are my friends and family because loyalty is blind. And with you I have to have both my eyes open. I made the mistake to forget that after New York, so I have to thank you for the reminder" I smiled kindly at him. "What I had for you was respect and I told you that before. But that respect was destroyed the moment I found out, by myself, that Coulson was alive. You had 24 months to come clean and you did not, not even about something that I was so intimately related to. When it was related to someone from my family, because Coulson? He was like a father to me, and now? Now, he has absolutely no fucking idea who I am. I am a stranger to him" it was my turn to lift an eyebrow to him. "Want to tell me how that happened or will I have to read about it?" I asked lifting the folder and dropping it hard on the desk in front of him"
Our eyes met in a wordless war as silence stretched. Fury's words were what broke that quiet. "You want the whole story or the short version?"
I contemplated my options carefully before decided. "Short for now. We don't want the others waiting for too long and start asking questions now, do we? I will read the reports on my own, but a heads up as to what I am gonna have to digest would be lovely"
I sat down on one chair facing the office, as I had a feeling that I didn't want to be standing with what I was about to hear.
Fury took a deep breath before starting his explanation. "This is the 'Terrestrialised Alien Host Integrative Tissue I.' Project, aka Project T.A.H.I.T.I. At the beginning it was overseen by Coulson, who eventually resigned from the Project deeming that it did not fit with his good conscience. The purpose of it was to bring back an Avenger if they died. I could get into great details as to how we were trying to do that, but that would be the long road. After Coulson died in the Helicarrier, it was like I lost my one good eye" he actually took a shuddering breath at that. My eyes averted from his in the memory of what I had done, but was quick to look back at him. Once he was sure that my attention was still on him he continued.
"He might not have been an Avenger, but he was one of my best agents and dear friends and I would be damned if I didn't try everything in my power to bring him back. We had found a drug which could regenerate cellular tissue, but at the same time it implanted fragments of cellular memory of where the serum was coming from, its host" he tried to explain as best as he could. I could tell that he was skipping some key parts of the story, like what the serum was, but I guess I would have to read about it later one.
"This memory you are talking about" I spoke after his long pause. "Does it have anything to do with him not remembering me?" I asked and couldn't help it as my voice broke a little bit at the end.
He waited for me to recompose myself. Despite all the lies that he had told, deep down he was still the same pirate that I knew. The one with the hard exterior but the more fluffy-like interior which not many people got to see. It had been a while since I witnessed that side of him and it made my anger tune down. A tiny bit.
"The initial participants, after receiving the serum, would start showing signs of insanity. We found that by using the Memory Overwriting Machine we could… scrub their brains and make them forget the whole procedure, thus never showing any deterioration in their mental state" he put it as simple as he could.
I nodded as I took in the information. My brows furrowed at a thought. "How would you make sure that it worked though? That his 'mental state', as you put it, remained sane if he was leading a team all over the world and away from you?" I saw something flash in his eyes and then something in my brain just clicked. Because this was so something that Fury would do. "You have a person on the inside. You put someone to make sure that he didn't wonder off" my eyes casted downwards as my brain worked to find who the person was. "It cannot be FitzSimmons, Jemma is a terrible liar and even if Fitz could pull it off with the rest of the team, he wouldn't possibly be able to do the same with Jemma. Ward is…" my head titled to the side, thinking of everything I knew of him from both my past interactions with him as well as the new ones. "Well, he is Ward. He was so against joining this team that even if he is a good agent his distaste for the way Coulson works and the whole 'team' thing is too much for him to fake non-stop. So the only person left is May" I lifted my gaze and met his, my theories coming to fruiting when I took in his expression. "That's right! Who better than to keep an eye on him than her? They were always so close" I said with a real smile making its way on my face.
"Well" my happy memories where shattered when he spoke again. "This was a long time ago and people have changed since you last saw them, but yeah. It's May" he confirmed.
This struck me as something weird, him mentioning people changing since he couldn't possibly be talking about Coulson and May had indeed changed a lot since the last time I had seen her. So this must mean that it was something that happened and probably was something related to the 'Calvary'.
But this was not what was important right now. There was still something missing. "Hold on" I said and actually lifted my palm in emphasis. "Let's go back a little, before May" I let my hand fall as I looked back at him. "You explained why you had to erase his memories from the procedure, but that doesn't explain why his memories of me are gone too" I cut to the chase. "What are you not telling me?" I asked, my tone dropping as my cold exterior took back its place.
He caught the change in my voice as he straightened his back and took in a deep breath, probably preparing himself for what he was about to tell me.
"He would have looked for you"
My breath was caught in my throat when he finished.
I felt the world stop around me as realisation of what he was saying kicked in.
I stood abruptly up, the chair toppling over behind me. "Tell me this is a joke" I told him.
He shook his head. "It was easy to convince him not to tell the rest of the Avengers" his eyes followed my form as I paced up and down in the small office, as I felt the walls closing in. "Even with Natasha and Clint" he continued.
"No" was the only word I seemed to be able to form.
"He wouldn't stand to not tell you, not when you were the one who killed him and he would know how guilty you would feel" He slowly stood up. "How you would blame yourself"
"Sit down" I told him, my voice so quiet that he might as well not have heard it at all.
"He would have looked for you the moment he was well enough to walk" he emphasised.
"Sit down" I repeated a bit louder, feeling a buzzing under my skin. A sensation I hadn't felt in a long time, especially after managing to control my powers.
But of course he did no such thing. "If he remembered, then everything would be for nothing. He would come to you and you, in the state you were in wouldn't have been able to keep the secret from the others. It was the only way–"
"Sit down!" I yelled at him and my hand flew in his direction, sending a shockwave that was pressing down his chest and was pushing him down on the chair.
My extended arm was trembling, and not from the vibrations leaving my palm, as I looked down. My other hand was pointed at the floor, absorbing the vibrations that the quake, which kept Fury at his place, was producing so that the plane we were in and the area around it didn't start shaking.
"And to think that you had the nerve to talk to me about loyalty" I said as I lifted my head to meet his gaze. "You had the nerve to talk to me about trust " I continued as I started walking towards him. "How dare you?" I finished as I reached him, still keeping him pinned down. My palm landed on his chest, making him unable to move as his very bones were shaking.
"Coulson would have come to me and you would have asked me to keep your secret. Would I have done it? How can I know if I never got the chance? And how is this different from the situation that I am in, right now?" I sat on the desk and looked at him as his gaze never wavered from mine. He was trying to not show his fear, and almost succeeding, but I was too close to not see it hidden deep in his eyes. "I know what happened but I can't tell anyone even if I wanted to, and I want to so badly" I resumed, shaking my head as a smile made its way on my lips. "But despite all that, here I still am. Keeping your little, stupid secrets. And you might ask why?", a giggle escaped at that.
"Because how can I stand the look at their faces when they realise that their mentor doesn't remember their sister? How do I explain that to them without them marching down to your office livid? And despite you being you, I doubt you would last more than a round against the Avengers. And despite how much I hate you right now, I don't want to see you dead"
With that I pulled away, my vibrations stopping immediately at my command and I took the folder back in my hands. "You march around playing with people's lives as if they are the puppets and you the puppet-master. Let me tell you that whatever you do has consequences that affect you as well. And now you've lost me. And I am not sure whether you can win me back but even if you do, it's going to be a crazy mountain for you to climb"
I moved towards the door when he called my name. "We still have to talk with agent Simmons and May about what they know and what they can share"
My back was still at him and my hand at the door handle as I replied, "You don't need me here, they can fill me in later. We are done here" there was a finality in my tone which made Fury add quickly.
"It was the only way to bring Phil back, Skye. It was the only way to make sure his secret stayed safe"
"That's where you are wrong" I looked over my shoulder, my hand now pressing down in the handle ready to open the door with a single pull. "You brought Coulson back. Phil died the day I killed him" I left the door hanging open behind me.
AN.2: Again, hey guys. I know this chapter is long overdue. Sorry for disappearing without any explanation and leaving you with tat cliffhanger. Stuff happened and I couldn't, or was not in the right mindset to, write. But I'm now back on track and you should get weekly updates unless something else happens, but I'll try to let you know if something like that occurs. See you all next week :