AN: Hello, people! You know the drill. Many thank to MegaDiary123. Here we start with the 4th episode. I'm not getting that much into that episode as I have with the others so far. If you have any question don't hesitate to review or leave me a PM. Until next time...

All rights go to Marvel

Coulson's POV

The mission at Malta didn't go as well as expected and I was not a big fan of the way that it turned out. But there was nothing I could do other than what happened at the end. The choice between the life of one person who would die not too long after and the lives of the people on the island and most importantly my team, though not desired, was not a hard one.

The paperwork that had to be filled to explain everything that went down was a huge pain. But since we stored the Gravitonium at the Fridge and the registry was destroyed, something good came out of the whole ordeal. Though we sent the Gravitonium over at the Fridge, we landed in Rome again to refuel and visit our base. It was only a day later that information about some happenings in Stockholm came through and it caught my eye. What the thief managed to do was something almost unheard of. I could imagine less than a handful of people who would be able to achieve something like that and since one of them was in the Bus with the team and the other was an Avenger… I had to find out for myself.

So, I gathered everyone and soon we were on the air with Sweden as the destination.

I had just finished with the required documents that I would need for the mission, to show to the local police and military that gathered in the area, and decided to head to the cockpit. More often than not I would notice that Skye would either go in there with May and stay with her as she flew, or she would disappear someplace else, for a few hours every time and then she would reappear out of thin air. I still didn't know what to make of her exactly. And what she said to me right before infiltrating Quinn's villa… it made me think that maybe I have been too hard on her.

I knocked before opening the door to the cockpit, where May was by herself, her focus on the various panels in the room and the clean sky ahead of us. "Maybe I should learn to fly. It's not too late, right?" I turned to look at May who still looked out of the front widows, pretending I wasn't even there. I wouldn't admit it to her, but I missed the way we used to talk to each other before that mission went wrong all those years ago. "I could learn" I concluded when I didn't get any reply from her, nodding my head to no-one in particular. "What do you like best… the freedom? The view?"

"The solitude" my attempt for small talk was destroyed by May's blunt reply and I had to suppress a giggle.

"Got it. See you in Sweden" I told her and headed towards the door. I don't know what possessed me to say so, but right before I left the room I spoke to her "But you still let Skye come in here". There was no anger or resentment in my voice, I was just stating a fact after all.

I could swear I heard her reply "Exactly" but I wouldn't be sure, given that I was already at the corridor and walking toward the lab where I knew everyone else was.

FitsSimmons were working on the new dendrotoxin .45-caliber cartridges, semi automatic guns. I arrived just as Ward was about to ascend the stairs and leave the science twins keep working on their project. "Has any of you seen Skye?", I asked them.

"Not really" Ward didn't bother looking back as he left. I shook my head. Though the two of them had made some progress, there was still a long way to go until they actually got along. But I couldn't complain really, it wasn't like they made a big fuss every time they were together in the room, so I guessed they just needed some more time to work things out.

"Sir" my attention was redirected to Simmons who was looking at me. She cleared her throat and her eyes flew to one of the vans parked at the cargo hold before going back to continuing her work.

My right eyebrow almost reached my hairline at that as I started walking towards said vehicle. It wasn't that hard to not miss the connection that the two girls had, always making sure the other is okay, knowing what the other is about to say or is thinking about. I knocked on the window and it rolled down to reveal Skye in the backseat, with her laptop on her lap.

"Hey, Coulson. What's up?" She asked.

"What are you doing in here Skye?", I couldn't help but ask in return. She could be anywhere in the Bus, working with the system's computers and she chose such a small and closed space?

"I'm just taking a little me time. It can get pretty loud in the Bus and I like my solitude every now and then" she replied with an easy smile on her face.

I scoffed at that. Her words sounding so similar to what May had just said moments ago that I could see why she actually allowed Skye in her sacred space. "Whatever works best for you I guess. Anyhow, I need your help with something"

Just as she did a couple of days ago with the e-Vite that she got for Quinn's gala, Skye just logged into her phone and she dropped the idea that we could find the person behind the heist through the online platforms. "It's amazing. Every year this part of our job gets easier. Between Facebook, Instagram and Flickr, people are surveilling themselves".

I could see Skye nodding along to my words as her eyes travelled through the screen where we had the tag and search program running. "And with many filters to choose from" she added making a small smile appear on my face. Her ability to say something so irrelevant to the case since the day she walked in the Bus would help ease the atmosphere at intense moments. "You know that I helped design the system you are using right?" She asked and I could hear the pride in her voice. When I turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow she actually giggled. "What? My hacking abilities aren't just limited to getting into places through backdoors of the dark web. I have helped close holes in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s security systems for years now, and upgrading many of their existing softwares and applications" she declared as her gaze shifted back to the screen. "Ha!" She exclaimed and pointed as a picture came up with a woman fitting the profile that we were looking for.

"I can run facial-recognition software on the photos, cross-reference them with our criminal database" May quickly added, always ready to get down to business and not beat around the bush.

"You don't have to" I answered just as quickly, as I laid my eyes on my rookie that I hadn't seen for years. "That's the thief. Her name's Akela Amador"

I transferred the image of Amador to my tablet and moved towards the briefing area to bring in the rest of the team who was waiting for the three of us. "You're certain?" May questioned as we walked.

"I should be" I paused and turned to look at the two women behind me. "I trained her" and with that I walked in. The briefing went as expected, mostly that is. May wanted to alert the HQ of our findings but I told her to not do so for the time being. I wanted to bring her in myself, I couldn't believe that she would cross the agency like that, despite all her flaws. May, of course, was not too excited with what she was ordered, but followed through anyway and set course to Belarus.

I was still looking at Akela's picture on the screen, thinking that everyone had already left, only for someone to clear their throat. I lifted my head only to find Skye looking at me. "Look, I know it's not my place, but don't blame yourself because this chick went to the dark side. Whatever… path, whatever weird stuff she got into, it's on her. Not on you. So, please try not to beat yourself too hard about it, okay?" She offered a small smile and left me alone in the room.

I didn't know why, but I could have sworn that she was speaking from experience.

From there on the mission started going from bad to worse. True, we knew that Akela was in Belarus but when we went in to locate her, she attacked the van that FitzSimmons and Skye were in. If it weren't for Skye being a trained agent I wouldn't want to think what might have happened. But she was there and, despite not chasing after Akela, staying with the other two to make sure that they stayed safe and waited for Ward and me to arrive, she did manage to get a license plate which she was running in the lab. She was also trying to hack back into the feed that Akela was watching them from and so we had a sort of solid lead.

But then, when we were able to watch back to what she was seeing, May had to put her input again. "We have to take her out. She's a weapon. I'll call HQ, see if we can bring a task force to help us"

I looked at her, my eyes narrowing. Ever since she found out it was one of my old trainee's she was dead set on calling the big guns and not letting us deal with it. "Our team can handle it" I said with confidence.

May let out a sigh and the rest of the team parted for her to walk forwards and stand right opposite me. "I get it. You feel responsible… maybe you pushed her too hard. But she tried to kill three members of our team"

"If she wanted us dead, we would be dead" I instantly said back. "And Skye was with them, nothing happened".

"We got lucky" she emphasised the last word. "You wanna risk our lives again?"

I couldn't believe this. I could understand this coming from Ward, it was like he was born and bred out of a textbook for crying out loud. But never from May. "You told me you were ready for combat. You told me that you had my back"

"Don't ever doubt it" she cut in, not letting me form another sentence. "But you are defending this girl at the expense of the team"

"Because we protect our own" I took a step towards the woman that I knew for so many years.

"With all due respect, sir. She is not one of our own" Ward had to say his part and I clenched my jaw. Thankfully Skye cut in, pointing at the screen were Akela was asked permission to sleep on a piece of paper.

And when a 'Stand by_' appeared at the edge of the screen I knew what this was. "She's not being watched. She's been controlled. We have to find her. Take shifts watching the feeds. Sooner or later she'll look at something that will clue us in her location"

"I'll take the first watch" May said and I pointedly looked at her.

This was not an argument that I wanted to have at the moment and so I retreated in my office. It was going to be a long night… I couldn't really sleep and I was going over and over the information that we had gathered ever since we landed in Stockholm, trying to memorise anything and everything that I deemed relative. The trace-like state that I was in was interrupted from a knock on the door which opened slowly to reveal Skye.

"I just wanted to give you a quick update" she said and I put my paper on the desk, my attention fully at her. "She's still at the hotel, so… and that's the update" she finished and a slightly awkward silence filled the room. I could tell that there was something else she wanted to say, and she just didn't know how to breach the subject. "It was a pretty weird day, huh? It was like we were trapped in a van-shaped piñata for a minute there"

I let out a sigh. "That should never have happened" I said, knowing it wasn't going to offer any short of reassurance.

"That's okay" she said in return as if trying to reassure me. "I have been in many bad situations, I just wouldn't want to think what would have happened had I not been there. And anyways, it wasn't nearly as bad as watching you and May fight downstairs"

"That shouldn't have happened either. You regret having Maria assign you here?"

She opened her mouth as if to speak, but then closed it again thinking over the words she was about to form. "The Deputy Director might have suggested that I am added in this team, but you were the one to give the okay. And I know that you are not extremely excited with the idea, but I feel like we are getting somewhere. Or I least I think that we do. That's speaking from my part, I don't know about you. And I know you might not know a lot about me and this is throwing you off, but I value you. And if you think this woman deserves a second chance, we should give it to her. Even though she tried to kill us and I kinda hate her guts" she smiled at the last sentence. Then her expression sobered up. "You gave me one after the rough start we had and I appreciate that. I am sure she will too when we get to her" she nodded so slightly and left the room, closing the door behind her.

That girl… I didn't know what to make of her. She would often joke about things, but then she would find the solution to whatever problem I throw her way. And from time to time she would take this expression where she would speak so sincerely and deeply that it was a complete turn from the personality traits that she wears most of the day.

She was an interesting person indeed. And as I had concluded a few hours ago, I might have been too hard on her.