Chapter Text
A Cafe/Diner, Skye:
And there he sits, "The Hooded Hero", terrible superhero name, watching a newscast about himself, people wondering who he is, who the hero is, while he searches for a job listing in a cafe, eating the food he can only just afford. It sucks, and it’s unfair. But that’s how the world works most of the time, at least, without people trying to change it, for better or worse. Hopefully I can do a bit better for him. I mean, yeah I’ve got other reasons to do this, but I also hope that this helps him. Just gotta return the ID and wallet I snuck out of his pocket earlier now that I’ve got a pic of it.
I walk over, making sure to slip his wallet back into his pocket as I pass, and sit across from him in the booth while he’s still scanning and circling in the classifieds.
Ha, Classified. I know of some classified people who'd really like to scoop him up, unfortunately.
He looks up at me. I smile mildly, better to reassure him, hopefully, before looking serious again.
He’s easily the oldest person I’ve ever had to do anything like this for. Still, experience should help, I hope.
“Hi, I’m Skye.”
“...Ok?”
Right, can’t just expect him to question me or follow along.
“I just wanted to make sure you’re ok.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? And why do you care?”
Convincing him won't be easy, but it's worth a shot. Even if he doesn’t agree right away, if he needs help later, hopefully he’ll know he has someone to reach out to.
“Because you jumped out of that burning building and saved that woman very publicly, which means there are people looking for you now. And most of them don’t exactly have your best interests at heart.”
“Wait, I... I don’t know what you mean, I’m a factory worker.”
“Sure, but you also saved that woman, and cracked the pavement when you landed. So you’re not only that.”
“You got the wrong guy, lady.”
“Whether you want to admit it or not, your life changed the second you touched the ground. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. But you’re in danger, and I think we’d both rather this change be for the better for you.”
“What do you mean, about me being in danger?”
“S.H.I.E.L.D. They’re an international group that deals with powers, aliens, anyone or anything out of the norm. Mostly a bunch of government scary guys in suits. They ran the Avengers during the Battle of New York, and did a lot of the clean up right after. They’re one of the least dangerous groups that’ll be after you. But I can help get you safe, get a fresh start.”
“I’m just a guy, I don’t want a fresh start. I’ve got a life here.”
“Is the life here worth losing your life altogether? Because even if the scarier ones don’t find you, the least that’ll happen is you’ll be taken, interrogated about your powers and how you got them, maybe you’ll get locked up or experimented on. Way too many people out there are power hungry, and will use anyone or anything they can to get that power. I don’t want that happening to you.”
“Look, I don’t understand, what do you want from me?”
“Just to help, maybe some info on that Centipede lab you saved that woman from.”
“Alright, that’s it.”
He gets up and starts to walk away
“Wait, Please.”
He pauses and turns to look at me, so I continue
“Just, if you need help, I’ve got a van in the alley around the corner. Knock on the door anytime, and I’ll make sure to be there to help. With great power comes... a ton of weird crap you are not prepared to deal with. So I'll be there if you need me, even if it's just to talk.”
“Thanks.”
And he walks away.
Well that could’ve gone better. Sorry Mike.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later, Skye:
My monologue was going pretty well, at least till I got a bag pulled over my head by the two suits. Granted, I had hoped they’d grab me, but mid-monologue, really? That’s just rude. Based on the movement I could feel myself shuffled into probably an SUV of some kind considering I had to step up into it. Then they drove around for a while, before eventually they stopped, and I was pulled out of the SUV, and started walking on some smooth ground.
I could smell fuel, smoke, asphalt, and whatever aggressively masculine cologne one of the two government robots I’d been grabbed by was wearing. My hands were cuffed and the bag was completely opaque, so those were out of the question for senses. And I wasn't exactly tasting much at the moment, gross fuel smell aside. My hearing confirmed what I figured. The beeping of trucks, lots of low engine noises, and some jet engines, as well as various people yelling about things. I was probably at some sort of airfield, and… yep, that felt kinda like tarmac under my shoes. I’m shoved forward by brut-bot for stopping too long. The other government goon scolds him for it though, so that's something at least.
Definitely an airport, and in fact, an airplane, I can feel myself walking up some sort of metal ramp, which is clanging from my boots as I do. Wow, the suit-droids really aren't very good at their secret job if they think they’ve obscured where I am. I was expecting this to be harder.
And they’re spinning me around, annnd, Agent Aftershave has pulled the bag off my head.
Finally. Alright, time to play up the naive truth-to-power hacker angle Skye!
“You guys are making a big mistake.” I say
“You don’t look that big”
Idiot. He should really know as a spy not to judge just on appearances.
“Sorry for the lack of finesse. Agent Ward here has had a little history with your group, the Rising Tide.” says the less grunty one of them
Stick with just a hacker, Lie Badly Skye
“I don’t know what yo-”
“Ok there are two ways we can do this” says apparently Agent Ward
How original
“Oh, is one of them the Easy way?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
“What’s your name?”
“Skye.”
“What’s your Real name?”
That is my "real" name dipstick.
“It can wait. It’s another name we need. A certain hero.” says the one playing Good cop, I mean, Good Agent
“What makes you think I know that?”
“Well, you made a little mistake.”
Can you say that any more smugly?
“The phone you filmed the hooded hero with had the same cryptographic signature as a few of the Rising Tide posts.”
I can’t believe they fell for that. Well, may as well throw them a curveball, I think they’ll need it.
“Wooooow, yeah. Was that a mistake or am I now sitting in the center of your secret base. What is this, a plane? I got inside. And by now you’ve discovered you can’t beat the encryption on my equipment so, You got Nothing.”
“We have a fairly strong coincidence. You being on the scene, right before it went up in flames? Wanna tell me what my team is gonna find there?”
Oh, they think I blew it up. Not good. Yelena is going to kick my ass when she gets back, and then so many “I told you so”s. I'll have to buy a lot of mac & cheese to make it up to her.
“How did you know the hooded man was in the building?”
“Did you blow it up to draw him out?”
It’s like they’re following the “good cop, bad cop handbook”.
“Did you?”
“That’s not our style.”
“I was just kidnapped by your “style”. S.H.I.E.L.D. covered up New Mexico, Project Pegasus, of course you’d be covering up Centipede.”
Good agent & Agent Ward share a Look, followed by Agent Ward Poorly hiding himself mouthing “Centipede” to the other Agent.
Wow. Really?? No Wonder they thought I did it. They are shockingly bad at the whole information gathering spy thing.
“Holy no Way.” I laugh “You don’t know what that is. BILLIONS of dollars of equipment at your disposal and I beat you with a laptop that I won in a Bet?!”
“You need to think about your friend. We’re not the only ones interested in people with powers. We’d like to contain him, yeah. The next guy will want to exploit him. And the guy after that will wanna dissect him.”
Ward leans on the table gets in face to face, before starting with gritted teeth
Wow this guy is really trying to be intimidating.
“What is Centipede?”
They really don't know. I don't know whether to keep laughing or abandon this. I came for information, but if I can beat them with my old-as-sin laptop, maybe I shouldn't bother. I guess I can fill them in, at least they won't think I did it (I hope) and maybe some good can get done.
I turn to look at Mr. good agent.
“Look, you can keep interrogating me about something you clearly need all the help you can get with, or you can hand Mr. Grumpy pants over here the keys to my handcuffs and let me stand up and explain.”
I could get out myself, but this way they wont know that, and they won't attack me for it.
“Why would we let you out of your handcuffs? You’re a member of a dangerous hacker group that poses a threat to-”
“Agent Ward. Why don’t you just explain and then we can let you out of the handcuffs?”
“Because I don’t like being handcuffed? Prove that you're not some faceless government goons.”
Unexpectedly, mr. Nice agent actually reaches over and undoes my cuffs, all while goon #2 protests, but after agent #1 finishes unlocking the cuffs he interrupts the robot.
“Agent Ward, do you think that you are unable to handle her if she attempts anything?”
He then gives Ward a look.
“No sir.”
Interesting, so Mr. Nice guy is a higher up. Makes sense. Little do they know.
“Then accept my choice to undo the handcuffs and work with me here.”
“That’s a relief, you know those things are really uncomfortable. You should work on that, maybe-”
“Get to the point.”
“Alright, I am, Geez.”
I stand up and start pacing
“Centipede. It was chatter on the web and then… Gone. I traced the access point mac address to that building.”
“What were you after?”
“The truth. What are you after?”
“World peace.”
Huh. Didn’t expect that response. Agent cutout surprised me, theres a first.
“You pseudo-anarchist hacker-types love to stir things up. But you're never around for the fallout. People keep secrets for a reason, Skye.”
Well played, but still a bit of an ass.
“Well, just because your boss over there is reasonable doesn’t mean that you’re not an evil, faceless, government toolbag. Nice doesn’t always equal good. Plenty of people can smile while they slit your throat, or order a bunch of innocent deaths.”
“Just give us your guy's name.”
“He's not my guy.”
“You understand he’s in danger.”
“Yeah, I do. Why do you think I'm not telling two random suits who he is?”
“You wanna be alone with him. Sir, she’s a groupie. All this hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D., tracking powers, she might as well be one of those sweaty cosplay girls crowding around Stark tower.”
“That was one time! And I had a good reason!”
“Agent Ward.”
The agents exit the interrogation room.
Gotta think. Probably have a camera, maybe a mic, on me, so I can't check what this weird hex stuff on the walls is. Nothing in here to grab, guess I just gotta wait them out.
The door opens and they both walk back in, Agent-not-Ward is holding a plastic impact case.
Wonder what that is. They getting to the torture already or maybe offers of money?
He sets it down, and pulls out a green vial.
“This, is QNB-T16. It's the top-shelf martini of sodium-pentathol derivatives. It's a brand new and extremely potent truth drug. Don’t worry, the effects only last about an hour.”
I’ve never heard of that, and it wasn't in any of the S.H.I.E.L.D. files I hacked. But I suppose it could be real if it’s brand new? I should probably play along either way.
“And you’ll have a nice little nap. And we’ll have all the answers to ourEY! What the hell?”
So this is the route they’re going with. Definitely fake. Still could get some useful info unintentionally.
“I’m sorry. Did that hurt?”
“No. You’ve lost your mind. Should never do that to a member of your team and yes, it did hurt a little bit. But I always try and mask my pain in front of beautiful women because I think it makes me seem more masculine- my God this stuff works fast.”
Well, that's… an Interesting tac to take.
“Don’t trust us? Ask him whatever you’d like.”
“Wait a minute. You can’t just- This is definitely not protocol!”
This should be fun. He started with some half truths- that needle hurt but he’s used to worse, and I'm pretty sure the "acts differently around women he’s attracted to" thing is accurate. Seems like that includes me. Make him uncomfortable and get some info out of him while he's trying to lie to get me to trust him. Eat it Natalia!
I take my jacket off and adjust my shirt to show more cleavage, well as adopt a “Seductive” tone
“You seem nervous, Agent Ward.”
Oh, the way he looked at me just now? Definitely finds me attractive and didn't expect me to lean into that. This should be fun.
“I’m calling to mind my training.”
Sure you are buddy. There may not be a truth serum, but you are gonna tell me everything.
“There's no way I’m gonna reveal classified secrets to a girl who's hellbent on taking us down.”
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
“Yes, a few.”
I think he’s hedging. Definitely killed, probably more than a few.
“-high risk, targets. But they were… terrible people. Who were trying to murder nice people. And I didn't feel good afterwards.”
Wow. He said that so slowly he practically had to think for each separate word, almost definitely lying. Let’s throw him a turn.
“Does your Grandmother know about these things?”
“Gramsy?”
Wow. That was terrible and hilarious. I gotta try really hard not to laugh.
“So, Agent Ward, How long have you been at S.H.I.E.L.D.?”
“8 years.”
Huh. Solid answer, quick, probably the truth.
“How’d you join?”
“I was recruited out of juvie. My SO said he would like to talk to me about joining once I got out as long as I behaved, and I did. Few years later, he met me at the exit and drove me straight to S.H.I.E.L.D. academy to enroll.”
Seems true, there's no hesitation, no pupil dilation, none of the signs Yelena taught me.
“Do you trust S.H.I.E.L.D.?”
“Yes. They got me out of a bad situation, gave me motivation, purpose. I don’t know where I’d be without it. It’s a good organization, protects people.”
“So, why should I trust S.H.I.E.L.D.? Cause from where I’m standing you kidnapped me from my van.”
“You are a member of a terrorist hacker group, and possibly responsible for an explosion in town! You shouldn't need to trust S.H.I.E.L.D. and I have no idea why Coulson is doing this when we should be just interrogating you about your involvement!”
Nice try at twisting out of the question, but let some of his real feelings, and even better, possibly his partner/boss's government name, slip.
“So you trust S.H.I.E.L.D., but not… Coulson. I take it that's your boss out theres name?”
Ha. Agent Ward looks Genuinely pissed.
“Of course I trust Agent Coulson. He’s on my team, and I’m on his. We’re all S.H.I.E.L.D.”
Sticking with keeping it vague if Coulson is his partner or boss. Interesting.
“You still trust him after he dosed you with an experimental truth serum and locked you in an interrogation room with a suspected hacker?”
He’s hesitating. Trying to parse how to answer through the lies and truth.
“Yes, I may disagree with his decisions sometimes, but I trust him.”
He definitely let it slip without meaning to and is leaning in to try and recover. I'll keep that in my back pocket for later.
“So, why does S.H.I.E.L.D. not know about Centipede?”
Ah, he perked up. Probably excited to secretly pry info from me.
“S.H.I.E.L.D. is constantly monitoring issues worldwide, there's so much data to sort through things slip through the cracks.”
“Huh, that one felt true even though I know it’s a lie, at least partially. Maybe he’s a better liar than I thought, just needed a sec to get into it?”
The conversation/interrogation continues for a little while before Ward pretends to fall unconscious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Did Agent Ward give you anything?” asks Agent Coulson
Yes, thanks. And thanks for letting me wander a bit on this nice plane, really get a lay of it. Can't Believe you did that.
“He told me he’s been to Paris but he’s never really Seen it and that he wishes you had stayed in Tahiti.”
That last bit even seemed true.
“It’s a Magical Place.”
“Ward doesn’t like your style, kinda think I Do.”
I really do. This is a wild, and fun, tactic. Probably would have worked even better on someone not trained by a former Widow.
“What about his?”
A news report is cast to a screen in front of us both with a gesture.
“-remains in critical condition. Employees could not identify the attacker, But security footage confirms that This Man assaulted the factory foreman before damaging Thousands of dollars worth of company property with his bare hands.”
Oh Mike, that doesn't seem like the person I met. Not at all.
“This is Wrong. This is Not the guy I met, he was…
He just needs a break.”
“Then give him one. What have you got?”
Alright. Fair play, I’m with you on This.
I take out my phone, upload my pic of Mike's ID to the plane system, and set the nearby smart display to show it. Agent Coulson looks frustrated and impressed, though when he turns to me, its with a light-heartedly scolding face.
"Well now I gotta know how you did that. Don't worry, it won't go in my report, we can focus on helping him first."
And so saying, he gestures to Mike's ID onscreen beside the report continuing to play.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The team seems to work together well, and is an interesting group. I guess I could work with them. Lena’s still got a while on her thing, so I can stick with them for a bit. They seem pretty smart. Mostly. Glad I got that audio file. Just gotta make sure they don’t look too carefully in my van while we're here.
I remove and hide a few signs of Yelena in here, and slip the info card into my shirt, just in case they try and pat me down. The other couple things should be safe in this van's weapons stash for now. Best keep that hidden.
“That should do it! Let’s head back.”
“Alright-”
As Agent May slides the van back open, Mike Peterson jumps down, landing in front of her. Agent May pulls out a gun, and Mike grabs her hand as they grapple for it, before he throws her bodily across the alley into some trash bags, knocking her unconscious.
Shit shit shit. Do I try and fight him? I could maybe talk to him first?
“Mike. What are you doing?”
“Saving you. From the scary men in dark suits? And you’re gonna help save us.”
Oops. Kinda my fault there. And what does he mean
“Us?”
Mike pulls a kid into view.
Oh.
“Don’t cry. Stay strong for me Ace. What are we?”
I might've gotten in over my head
“We’re a team.”
“That's right. Now drive.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He’s having me try and delete him out of all the systems I can. I am, Mostly, and slower than usual. I do have to do something else at the same time after all.
“How long is the gonna take?”
“This is top speed, trust me. It’s not like I’m deleting a Facebook page, I’m bypassing the license bureau’s AES-protected data stream, sooo, chill.”
“How do I know you can really do this?”
“I’ve done it before.”
A lot. Practiced a bunch also. Which is why I can do it And my other task secretly at the same time, namely, sending S.H.I.E.L.D. our location.
“...We’ll take the nice lady with us. We, we can’t go to the airport so we’ll take a train, and there she’ll, she’ll help us start over. Make a new life, a better life. Like I always said.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alright, now I’ve just gotta stall till they get here. Hopefully won't be too long.
“Mr. Peterson, we’re here to help. We're not a threat, but you're in danger and we need to take you in.” Coulson's voice comes from outside the van
There they are, just in time.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?!”
Uh oh.
Mike punches the door off of my van, and grabs both me and Ace, running into the train station.
Ok, ok, think fast. Oh look, douche canoe brigade at 11 O’clock.
I lean over slightly as they are passing and kick one of the men in the crotch.
“You're right, he is a little Bitch.”
They all rush at Mike to attack, crowding him, and letting me grab Ace and escape. however Mike tosses one, hits another onto his ass, and catches a thirds punch, twisting the arm till it fractures and tossing him to the ground, sliding him across the floor.
“Ace! Ace!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Come ON, why are these doors shut?
A man dressed like a police officer begins to approach me
Is that a shotgun on his back?! That's not right, and why is he Here rather than helping out any of the NUMEROUS places that need it?
“Oh my god officer! There's a scarily strong man! and he's grabbing and throwing people and-”
The “officer” has been walking closer to me and pulls the shotgun off his back.
Damn, thought that might work. He's definitely not a cop.
I rush forward just as he points it at me, and grab the barrel pushing it up towards the ceiling and simultaneously punching past it into the “officer”’s jaw, then a kick to the knee, followed by twisting around his body into spinning elbow in the back of his neck, and as he face-plants into the ground, a fast and quick punch to the back of his head knocking him out.
“Could've done that the easy way, then you wouldn’t have lost your gun and gained a headache. And maybe be dead. Annnd I'm talking to an unconscious or dead guy.”
I take his shotgun, and check to make sure I have any other weapons I can grab from him. I throw the shotgun shells away from us, and slide the shotgun off in a different direction.
Wonder what he was here for. Maybe some goon from Centipede to silence Mike and stop him from drawing so much attention to them?
As I'm running from the “police”, Mike jumps clear across the station to me and grabs me, dragging me through the doorway I was just at, not even noticing the unconscious “cop”. He brings me to a central upper area. As we enter the doors, I twist out of his grip.
“You’ve gotta stop, these people can help you!”
“The men in suits? They're your buddies now? Where'd they take my son?!”
We’re overlooking the central area on a balcony. Agent May rushes up behind Mike and kicks him in the back of the knee, and delivers a chop to the neck that would probably knock most people out. However Mike is still up, and grabs her. I'm still laying on the floor debating whether or not to interfere when he tries to throw Agent May, only for her to twist out of his grip and deliver a vicious kick to the chest, sending him tumbling over the railing. As he does, she rushes to it, leaning over, a horrified look on her face and yelling
“NO!”
Mike lands on top of a small kiosk, and climbs out of it, and Agent May breathes a sigh of relief. Walking slowly up to Mike is Coulson with a single pistol, which he lays down at his feet.
“Think that Means anything? I know you got men Everywhere waiting to put me down. I know how this plays out.”
“I don’t. I know you’ve got poison in your system. I know it’s burning you up. Mike, the last guy who wore that, exploded.”
“I’m not like that other guy. I’m… It matters who I am. Inside. If I’m a good person, if I’m strong.”
“I know you're strong. Your boy knows it. He needs you to let us help.”
“You TOOK him! You took my wife. My job. My house. You think This is killin’ me?”
I rush over along with May.
“All over, there’s people bein’ pushed down, bein’ robbed. One of them tries to stand up, you gotta make an example outta him.”
As he says this, he rips a concrete plinth out of the ground and begins to gesture with it.
“You bring this building down on us, will that help that?”
“That's a LIE, all you do, is LIE!”
He says, slamming the pillar into the remains of the kiosk, starting to glow with the orange explosive energy
“You said if we worked hard, if we did Right, we could have a place. You said it was enough to be a Man. But there's better than that. There's gods,... And the rest of us. What are we? They're giants, we’re what they Step on.”
“I know. I’ve seen giants, up close. And that privilege cost me, nearly everything. But the good ones? The Real Deal, they're not heroes because of what they have that we don’t, it’s what they do with it. You’re right Mike, it matters who you are.”
“I could, y’know? Be a hero.”
“I’m counting on it.”
A shot rings out quiet and yet deafening in its impact as it rocks Mike’s head back and he collapses to the ground. The orange glow fades from his skin as the Simmons rushes to him. She confirms… he's alive, just unconscious.
Oh thank fuck, I thought they killed him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mike is checked into the medical facility at S.H.I.E.L.D.. Then, Agent Coulson takes me to get Ace situated with his aunt. At the moment, I'm walking over to Coulson from dropping off Ace
“Told him his father is coming home.”
“He will. We have some experience with this.”
“He almost blew, We almost died.”
“We have some experience with that too.”
So do I.
“Don’t have it All mapped out though.”
“True. We didn’t cut off the head of the Centipede. Whoever sponsored that little experiment is still out there. Among other things.”
“It’s a brave new world. And a really old car.”
“Lola can keep up, what about you? Have you, thought about the offer?”
I was planning on it, glad you beat me to asking, that'll make this a lot less suspicious.
“Hitchin’ a ride on the crazy plane? Not exactly a team player.”
That should be convincing enough.
“We’re not exactly a team. But we're in a position to do some good. You’d be a great help. And you’d be front row center seat at the strangest show on earth, which is, after all, what you wanted.”
Well played Agent Coulson.
“I was able to hack S.H.I.E.L.D.. From my van.”
And I've seen a hell of a lot through the last ten years.
“You're gonna show me something New?”
Coulson gets an alert.
“Go.”
“Sir, we’ve got an 084.”
“Is that Confirmed?”
“They want us to go in and confirm it.”
“What’s an 084?”
“You’ve got exactly 10 minutes to decide if you Really wanna know.”
“There's no way we can make it to the airfield in-”
Coulson presses a button and some switches, and the car lifts off the ground and begins to hover.
Oh.
“...10 minutes.”
I’ll admit, this is pretty cool.
“The tide is rising.”