AN: Hey guys! I'm sorta back :) First things first, many thanks to my awesome Beta MegaDiary123. Now, a welcome to all the new readers, I hope you enjoy the story so far, and a sorry to all the old ones for taking so long to upload. I hope I'll be able to get the next chapter done much sooner. Until then...

All rights go to Marvel

Skye's POV

"Why are you doing this?" I heard Jemma from the entrance of my pod. I sigh and pull my t-shirt all the way down, looking through my clothes for another jacket to wear on top.

"Jemma…" I trail off with a slightly annoyed tone leaking in my voice. Ever since I laid out the plan and Coulson approved of it she has been anything but supportive.

When I keep looking and don't say anything else she resumes. "You don't have to. I am sure if we bring him in we can learn where he leaked the information to. You don't even know if your cover is still intact. It can't be too hard to—"

"Jemma" I interrupt her before she rambles away. We didn't have the time and in that moment I didn't have the patience to deal with this. "We are doing this. I am doing this. It's our best option, okay? Why are you fighting with me on this?" I question. I turn around, jacket in hand, and step closer to the scientist. I look at her and see something that I can't quite place in her eyes. "What's wrong?" I speak gently and my hand lands on her shoulder, rubbing the area.

"It-It's just that…" she lets out a sigh and shakes her head. Brushing my hand off her she takes a step back. "I'll see you when you get back". She makes a move to leave but I won't let her.

I don't grab her this time, just whisper her name softly and it's enough to make her stop. "Please, I don't like this. Talk to me?" It came out as a question. "You know you can tell me anything" this did not though, it was a statement that both of us knew was true. "I don't like having to go knowing that something about this mission bothers you". May's voice came through the speakers, telling us that we need to prepare for landing. "Please, Jemma?"

She takes a step back and tries to smile, but she never was a good liar. "I'll see you later Skye" she said and with that she headed down to her lab.

I let out a frustrated breath. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't think of any reason why Jemma would be acting this way and it was throwing me off way more than I liked to admit. I strapped myself down to one of the sofas. I couldn't think of that now, I had to prioritise the mission. But I would get to the bottom of this.

I have already sent a text to Miles, I found the phone number he's currently using by actually hacking in his phone. We had lost contact after I blew up my cover after all and if I actually still had his number, which he changed quickly after I joined the Bus' team, I would have already handed it over.

I was waiting for him in the apartment that I had found he lived in at the moment in Austin and waited for him to 'escape' my team and come back here.

I was not disappointed soon after when Miles rushed in the room, slightly out of breath and locking the door behind him, franticly putting his keys in the keyhole.

"Are you sure they're not following you?" I spoke and he sharply turned to look in my direction, alarmed.

When he realised that it was just me his shoulders relaxed and he shook his head to clear his mind before nodding. "Yeah. Had to pull all the stops, though. Thanks for the text. How did you get in here?" I looked at his with irritation. "Wait, are you mad?"

"Are you kidding me right now?" I asked back. "I can't believe you! Why the hell would you hack S.H.I.E.L.D.?" I asked throwing my hands in the air for emphasis.

"Wait a second. What?" He looked completely perplexed. "'Good to see you, too, Miles'. I released those files to the world, where they belong. 'Cause that's what we do, Jane" he said as if it was the most obvious thing on the world.

"You don't do that when we are being hunted by them for weeks!" I bite back. "Why would you take such a risk?"

"Seriously? You disappear off the face of the Earth for a month and a half now, right before S.H.I.E.L.D. starts hunting us all, knowing locations and names and you dare ask me that? Why do you care? The fact that they try to corner us doesn't mean that we stop revealing secrets to the world!" He was getting more and more worked up as he spoke. The distance between us slowly lessening as he started walking towards me. "And now that I think of it, why did you come here now? Are you working for them? Did you sell us out?" He was slightly smarter than I had given him credit.

But that wouldn't matter. "You have to be joking. I was hiding, you dumbass! You think they have not been hunting me as well? One of my hacks picked up on their new information on Rising Tide and before I even got the chance to get to you they were hacking me back. I had to go dark or get caught, so excuse me if I chose the former!" I screamed at his face. Then my eyes softened. "I tried to keep tabs on as many people as I could, but you were always my priority and when I saw that your name popped up in one of their searches I tried my best to make sure you had the heads-up" I saw a smirk forming on his face. "why are you looking at me like that?"

The tips of his lips only upped further as he brushed some hair behind my ear. "Did you just call me 'dumbass'?"

"Stop smiling. I'm serious and still pretty annoyed that you would take such a risk" I said but made it look like I couldn't hold back a smile.

"Sure you are" he said. When I gave him an eye roll he laughed. "I'm sorry, I can't help it. I've been missing you like crazy" he bent down and our lips connected briefly before parting away.

I let a giggle escape. "I've missed you too, Miles" and with that I grabbed his t-shirt neck and pulled down, meeting his halfway in a more heated kiss. Just as it started getting more heated in the room, the door bust open and May with Coulson walked in, guns in hands and aimed at us. "Shit" I said and made a move to get out from the widow only for May to catch up with me and grab my arm and press the gun on my side. "Don't even think about it" she said in a low, warning tone.

Miles, who had still to move waited until Coulson got behind him and cuffed him. May did the same to me. "You said that you lost them" I told him, sounding irritated.

"That's enough for now" Coulson nodded at May and then a black bag was thrown over my head. As May led me out of the room, I heard Coulson speak once more. "We'll take them in separately. You take her and I got this guy over here. I'll go on ahead"

When the sound of their steps disappeared and my vibrations had confirmed that their car had driven off I got myself free from the shackles and handed them to May before taking the bag off my head. "I guess that went well" I said as I rubbed my wrists.

May rolled her eyes at me and then moved towards the study area of the house. "Take what you need, we should get out of here soon" she spoke as she looked for a laptop. I shook my head and moved the opposite direction, towards a large bookcase that Miles had. I reached down and, after saving some books away, I started looking under the shelves. "What are you doing?" I heard May as she came back into the room.

"Just, give me a second. And… ah! Here we go" I said in triumph as my fingers brushed an area with a different texture than the bookcase's wood. I took the laptop that was saved there in a thin, secret drawer, along with some hard drives that were also placed in that space.

"How did you—?"

"I scanned the whole room when I walked in and there was something slightly off with this bookcase" I said as if it was the most obvious thing. "Plus, as I said, I have worked with Miles a lot… closely. I know him, I know his little tricks".

I walked ahead of May to the car parked outside and we soon found ourselves in silence as we drove back to the Bus. I had Miles' computer on my lap all the way there. I used a USB stick that I carried most of the time with me, uploading T.A.D.A.S.H.I. and with his help it was pretty easy to get the files and the information that I was looking for.

"I never asked" I heard May said as I kept typing. "Who's your digital assistant?"

I didn't diminish the speed with which my fingers were flying over the keyboard as I answered. "It's Stark's present. He's a User Interface that he made me after New York. He knew I would have to go on a mission at some point. So he used a similar algorithm to that of J.A.R.V.I.S., only Tee is exclusively mine and he doesn't have access to him unless I grant it, or if his protocols are over-ridden because of an emergency"

"Jarvis?" she asked and only then did I realise that not a lot of people actually knew of his A.I.

I mentally slapped myself in the face but it manifested as a simple head shake. "Another time" I replied as I saw the Bus closing in. I closed the laptop after transferring all the files that needed to be transferred in another USB, which I handed to May as soon as we parked. "Give this to Ward, should be enough to make him talk". May in return nodded and when we exited the vehicle she cuffed me again and, once more, threw the bag over my head.

I had the mental image of the Bus integrated to my brain by that time, so despite May guiding me to the Cage where Miles was being held, I knew where to step and when to turn so May's help was more for the record than anything else. As soon as the door opened, I was roughly thrown to the chair, one of my hands was uncuffed so the cuff's chain went around a pipe connected to the table and then my free hand was once again restricted, May actually tightening it more so than before. "Hey, watch it!" I yelled at her just as she took the bag off my head and then she left the room, violently shutting the door behind her just for a more dramatic effect.

I shook my hands, as if to test the cuffs and the metal hurt my wrist, where May had tightened it. I intentionally took a sharp breath and Miles was once more alert. "Hey, hey. Take it easy" he said and placed his hands on mine. He was in the same predicament as I was, so our hands were really close to one another. "Don't hurt yourself" he said and gently rubbed the red area around my wrist.

I let out a sigh. "I'm glad they didn't do anything to you. When they took us separately I didn't know what to think" I wrapped my fingers around his.

He smiled at that. "Don't worry, they didn't do anything. Other than deny me my basic rights!", he titled his head and yelled in the empty room, clearly aware of the cameras and microphones. "I guess due process isn't really S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol". He turned to look back at me. "How are you doing? They took their sweet time bringing you, are you okay? Did they do anything to you?", concern was leaking into his voice.

"Don't worry" I replied, squeezing our holdings hands. "Other than the rough treatment all they did was ask me questions"

"Questions?", that seemed to interest him.

"Yeah. They kept asking me who you sold the information to" I could feel him tense, him heart rate picking up a bit but I didn't comment. "I kept telling them that that's not who we are, that we don't sell information only give it back to the public" I smiled at him and he tried to mimic it to the best of his ability. "They wouldn't believe me but I know you. And I know how important information freedom is to the both of us" I moved forwards and he did the same as I pecked him on the lips. "Though I'm still fucking furious with you" I said as I sat back down and released my grip to his hands. If I could fold my hands over my chest I would. "I was doing just fine and then I risked my neck for you and I got caught" I huffed.

"Hey, hey" he tried, his hands opening as wide as the cuffs would allow. "I really thought I lost them! They shouldn't have been able to follow after I lost them in the highway. They must have had a second team keeping track of me"

"Like that's making it any better. At least they shouldn't be able to hold us in here for long, someone's gonna come in sooner than later. And since the only thing we've done is supply for the public it can't be too bad, can it?" I asked, hope sparkling in my eyes.

And… he bought it. "Of course"

It was at least half an hour until Ward marched in the room. To let us, or more specifically Miles, sweat for a bit.

A file was dropped on the table and Ward stared at Miles, arms folded over his chest. "She's been defending you, saying you're a straight up guy". His eyes traveled to the file and then back to Miles' face. "So I'm going to give you a chance. Do you want to tell her, or should I?"

Miles' whole demeanour went in defence. "I don't have to listen to you—"

"There goes your chance" Ward didn't even let him finish as he grabbed the folder and opened it, taking out one check after the other and slowly placing them on the metal surface. "Your boyfriend here made a few deposits in the days following the leak. All said… it's about a million dollars"

I looked at the evidence in front of me with my mouth hanging open. "What?"

"I can explain—" Miles was quick to say but this time I was the one to interrupt him.

"Did you sale information?" When I saw that he wasn't going to reply I yelled at him. "Miles?! Yes or no? Did you?" I pressed and he caved.

"Yes. Yes, but—"

"Oh, you're so dead!" I stood up the chair toppling on the floor behind me. "What the hell were you thinking? And to think I came out of hiding for you!"

"It was a million dollar" he tried to amend and make me see logic. "A million dollars" he repeated whispering. "It could change my life… our lives. I was gonna look for you and we could finally live like we deserve. And that woman was harmless. I looked into it" he stated with confidence.

"Are you kidding me? No one with good intentions pays that kind of money for information! Did you even think about that?!" Ward righted my chair up and made me sit, seeing that my character was getting pretty upset.

"Of course I did!" Miles yelled back. "I would never have done it if I thought—"

"Who is this woman you're referring to?" It was time to get some answers and Ward's question was a great way to start getting them.

"A fan of the Rising Tide, some rich girl in a flower dress. She knew all about me, said I had a gift. She thought people like us deserve more" I made a quiet comment about how much more he deserves but he ignored it. "She pointed me to a Chinese S.H.I.E.L.D. feed wanted me to crack it." He lifted his shoulders nonchalantly.

I rolled my eyes at that. "You thought that was harmless?"

"I checked the data stream. It didn't seem like anything you and I hadn't already put out there, Jane. And I traced the account where the money came from to make sure it wasn't some evil corporation. It was just an eco-research lab. Otherwise, I would never—"

"Ecological research?" Ward picked up to it and asked.

"Yeah, insects, some study with centipedes what's more harmless than that?" He said as if it was the most harmless thing on the planet. And normally it would be, had it actually be the insect.

Silence engulfed the room as he finished his sentence and I moved back to my chair. "I need to look into that and I think we are finished here" I said and looked at Ward, lifting my hands as an indication of what to do. He took the cuff keys off his belt and released me. I rubbed my wrists.

"What the hell's happening?" Miles asked.

"The location of the research lab is in the laptop you brought back, we are already on our way there, Skye. Agent Kwan will meet us there, we need to come up with an action plan" he said and left the room.

"Skye? What is going on here, Jane?" Miles asked, still not catching up.

I let out a breath and turned around to look at him. "What is happening is that you've been played and you're gonna sit tight until we try to fix your stupid mistake" I was about to close the door behind me as I left the room. "By the way, you're a terrible kisser" I said and then made my way to the debriefing room.