Y/N knocked softly on Coulson's office door before opening it. "You asked for me, sir?" She said.
He seemed dazed, out of it. But he had been that way since the team retrieved him a few days ago. And Y/N understood why. It was clear he was remembering things. May and Y/N contacted Fury about it, asking him what they should do. And he said, stick to the plan, make sure he doesn't try digging anymore. Y/N noticed that there was an open file on his desk, his file.
"Yes," Coulson responded, "Come in and shut the door behind you."
Y/N did as she was told. She gently shut the door and then sat down in a chair across from her friend.
"I don't know who I can trust anymore," Coulson quietly spoke up. "Everyone has lied about what happened." He set down the photo he was looking at before looking up at Y/N. "Did you know what they were doing to me?"
"No," Y/N said, shaking her head. "I didn't know you were alive until I was asked to join the team. I swear Coulson."
"Have you seen these?"
He held up his file as his eyes stared deeply into her very soul. This was the moment she knew she had to make a choice. Tell her friend the truth or lie, and hope that when the truth comes out that he'll forgive her.
"No," she lied. "I've never seen that."
"I need your help. I need to find out exactly what happened to me."
"I don't know if that's a good idea, Phil. Fury kept this secret for a reason."
"A stupid reason! I need to know! So will you help me?"
Y/N observed for a moment, her friend falling apart right before her eyes. Then she nodded. "Yes. I'll help you."
~~~
After a long talk with Coulson about his ordeal and about him and May's secret mission to find out about Skye's parents, you walked down to the common area to see Fitz-Simmons, Ward, and Skye sitting around and talking. They were talking about how they heading to the Sci-Teach Academy to help with an investigation. She moved so that they wouldn't noticed she was there.
"Well, I've heard a lot about the Academy," Skye said. "I'm excited to finally see it."
"Me, too," Ward said. "Never been to Sci-Tech before."
"Never? Huh. The different SHIELD academies don't interact?"
Ward scoffed. "Not much. Academy of Communications does, but they're the biggest and focused on data analysis."
"It's the easiest to get into," Simmons said.
"Boring," Fitz said at the same time. "That's where you'd be Skye."
"Thanks," she replied.
"Operations is the most aggressive program," Ward stated. "Most people wash out of operations than the other academies."
"So which one's the hardest to get into?" Skye asked, causing the other three to tense. "I"m picking up on the rivalry between sciences and operations." May walked past the group. "Are you and Coulson past all that," Skye called to May, "or you gonna help Ward steal their mascot?"
"We're not going," May stated. "After we drop you off, Coulson and I have other matters to attend to." Then she was gone as quickly as she came.
"Coulson hasn't come out of his office in awhile. Do you think he's alright?"
"We saw him at a low," Ward said. "It's not easy for anybody."
"He'll be good," Y/N added, coming around the corner. "Just give him time."
"How long have you been standing there?" Fitz asked.
"Long enough." Y/n moved into the kitchen to fix herself something.
"So are you going with them or us?" Skye asked.
"Thought I'd tag along with you guys."
"Have you ever been to Sci-Tech?"
"A few times. But that was when I had just come out of the ice, everyone wanted to run tests on me."
"Which academy do you belong to?"
"None. I was trained before there were academies."
"Agent Rogers holds all the records at the operations academy though," Ward stated. "Beat them all after she came out of the ice."
"Is that true?" Skye asked.
"It is," Y/N nodded. "I only act like I can get injured easily and put down. It fools everyone around me."
~~~
"This was the SSR facility before SHIELD was even founded," Simmons explained as the five of them stood on the lawn facing the academy. "SSR stands for-"
"Strategic scientific reserve," Skye interrupted, nodding along. "Yeah, I know. Is this where you got all your PHDs?"
"Oh, no, you need at least on to get through the door."
"Is Science and Technology what you imagined, Agent Ward?" Fitz asked.
"Yep..." Ward answered, looking around. "No uniforms, no rope course, no defined muscularity on anyone."
"No marching in place, no IQs in double digits."
"There they are," a woman said, coming up to shake Fitz-Simmons hands. "So good to see you."
"You look as lovely as ever," Simmons commented.
"I concur," Fitz agreed.
"Thank you," the woman responded before moving to Ward. "Agent Ward." She shook his hand.
"Agent Weaver," Ward greeted.
"Agent Rogers," Agent Weaver moved to stand in front of her, hand out. "It's a pleasure to meet you and have you on our campus, ma'am."
"Pleasure's all mine," Y/N responded. "Is there a list of suspects?"
"Based on the level of intelligence it would take to put a device together like the one we found, we've narrowed it down to the top 10% of our Cadets. I'm worried there's a bad seed."
"Ops and sciences have differences, but both have to be careful about what we call 'bad seeds'," Ward began explaining to Skye. "People who want to use the tools we give them for-"
"Bad seed isn't a SHIELD term, Ward," Skye interrupted. "Just a term."
"I know you already questioned the victim," Ward started talking to Weaver. "But I have a few questions I'd like to ask him myself."
"I'll arrange for you to talk to Seth Dormer when he's out of class. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get Agents Fitz and Simmons settled into the lecture hall."
Fitz-Simmons followed Weaver down the hill. They were beginning to be surrounded my Cadets.
"Look at them..." Skye said. "The popular kids. Who knew?"
"I did," Y/N smirked.
"Come on," Ward urged. "While we have a minute, I think there's something you'll want to see, Skye."
Ward led them down the hill and into the main building. When they reached the largest open area of the building, Y/N realized what Ward was going to show Skye. Her breath caught as the memorial brought back memories.
"The Wall of Valor," Skye said, as they walked up to it.
"So you've read about it?" Ward questioned.
"Every SHIELD facility has a memorial to the agents lost in the line of duty. SHIELD's history can be traced on walls like this." Skye went up, running her fingers along the names. "Huh." Her fingers stopped at one before she turned to look at Y/N, who's eyes were already one the name she stopped on. "Bucky Barnes," Skye said.
"Peggy once told me that she believed Bucky was the first death in the fight SHIELD stood for," Y/N quietly spoke, moving to stand right in front of the name. "Felt he deserved more... did you know all the walls were redone after Steve and I were found?" Y/N chuckled lightly. "Thought it wasn't right to have people who were alive on it."
"You don't talk about him. You don't even talk about Stark or your brother. Why?"
"Can't let it get in the way of the mission... Maybe, one day, if you get me drunk enough."
"Puts it in perspective..." Ward began talking about the wall again, trying to get Skye off the topic of Y/N's life. "What we do."
"Must make you guys proud," Skye said. "All this history. Just wish I was a part of it. It's not self-pity, really. I'm just saying everyone here has earned this. They deserve it. I hacked my way in... feels like I cheated."
"All you need to join is a dedication to the greater good. Coulson saw that in you the moment he met you."
Y/N stood still in front of the Wall of Valor as Skye and Ward headed to the lecture hall. Skye paused and looked back to see Y/N kiss three of her fingers and press them on Bucky's name plate. She watched, carefully reading Y/N's lips as Y/N closed her eyes and whispered,
"I'm from Brooklyn, too."
~~~
Y/N walked into the lecture hall in the middle of Fitz-Simmons' speech. She found a seat in the very back, alone. She looked around, seeing Skye sitting a few rows down without Ward. She realized that he must have been asking the victim questions.
"Our instinct as scientists is to move forward, advance quickly, push the envelope," Simmons spoke to the Cadets in room. "But given recent events, it makes sense to reflect back on our history."
"SHIELD was founded after the SSR was able to defeat the nearly indomitable force known as HYDRA," Fitz stated, finding her gaze in the back.
"We tend to forget that these organizations... HYDRA, Centipede, AIM... were also made up of extremely brilliant scientists. Men and women who started with the same unlimited potential as you or I."
"Potential can sometimes be dangerous. Plutonium has the potential to power a city... or to be a nuclear bomb."
"Today, we'd like to share a few stories from he field in which we learned this lesson up close and faced the consequences when untested technology or biology lands in the wrong hands. And don't worry, we brought pictures."
The whole hall of Cadets laughed. But, suddenly, one of the Cadets called out.
"Oh, god," the young man called out. "Oh, god! What is this?!"
The Cadet stood up and so did many int he room, including Y/N and Skye. Y/N rushed down to the Cadet to see that he was slowly freezing from the legs up.
"Hey, what's happening to me?!" The Cadet continued. "Help me! Get it off!" The ice made its way up the Cadet's body. "Make it stop!"
The ice eventually covered the whole Cadet, freezing him. Fitz-Simmons ran up the stairs with a briefcase.
"Find exposed skin," Simmons ordered, searching through the briefcase. "He needs glucose to raise his body's natural freezing point."
"Simmons," Fitz called, "I need something to break the ice."
The whole crowd was murmuring around them. Simmons handed Fitz something to break the ice before putting something in a syringe. Fitz hit the ice until it broke and he could reach skin.
"Jemma, ready?" Fitz called.
"Yeah," Simmons responded, rushing up and injecting the needle into the Cadets exposed neck.
"Fitz-Simmons, what can we do to help?" Y/N asked.
"Something's doing this to him," Fitz stated. "Find it."
Y/N, Skye, and Ward, who had just shown up, began looking around, under all the seats, to find what could be doing this. They also started motioning the other Cadets to leave, who had only continued to murmur as they watched Fitz-Simmons in action and noticed that Y/N Rogers was here.
"Ward, there is it," Skye called out, lifting up one of the seats. "Fitz, what now?"
"Smash the damn thing!" Fitz ordered.
Ward stomped on it with his foot until it cracked into pieces and unfroze the Cadet. Fitz and Skye caught the Cadet and helped him to the ground.
"It's okay. It's okay," Fitz said. "It's okay. It's okay. It's over."
The Cadets still in the lecture hall began applauding. They were quickly all escorted out so that Donnie, the Cadet who had been frozen, could be questioned and the lecture hall cleaned up.
"And you can't think of anyone here who'd want to hurt you?" Skye asked, finishing up questioning Donnie under Y/N's watch.
"I don't know anyone," Donnie replied, shaking his head.
"Donnie, I'm gonna have you escorted back to your room," Agent Weaver said. "You get some rest and stay warm."
"Sorry I ruined your lecture," Donnie apologized to Fitz-Simmons on his way out. "I was really looking forward to it."
"It's not your fault, Donnie," Simmons replied as the young man left.
"No genetic materials or prints found on the device," Fitz stated. "The components are rare and expensive."
"Freshman pranks are tradition," Simmons explained. "But these are something else."
"Attempted murder," Agent Weaver noted.
"So, Donnie was the intended target all along?" Ward asked. "He have anything in common with the Cadets at the pool."
"These kids were popular. Donnie was-"
"Not," Skye finished.
"Donnie hadn't made any enemies here, but he hadn't made any friends, either."
"He had a hard time adjusting?" Y/N wondered. "How old is he?"
"18, youngest since Fitz-Simmons. 190 IQ and failing out of high school when we met him."
"Probably bored out of his mind," Fitz guessed.
"If things went well, we were considering graduating him early and signing him to the Sandbox."
"Wow," Simmons said. "Well, he would love it there."
"But he doesn't like it here, so I'm afraid he'll wash out."
"Maybe that was the idea," Ward stated. "Agent Weaver, keep working with investigations, interviewing Cadets, instructors."
"Of course," Weaver nodded before taking her leave.
"And us?" Skye asked.
"Their interviews won't bear fruit," Ward said. "We teach Cadets to keep secrets. Where did you guys hang out when you wanted to get away from the faculty?"
"Can we tell someone from operations?" Simmons asked.
"Yes," Y/N answered. "But if it makes you feel better, I technically don't belong to any of the academies."
The five of them began following Fitz-Simmons towards the hang out place.
"And when we get there?" Simmons wondered.
"We mingle, low-key," Y/N answered.
"Low-key? I'm sorry but, Y/N, do you know who you are?"
"No matter who Y/N is, this is the plan," Ward said. "Simmons and Skye will get comfortable with the students, see if they can get them gossiping. Skye looks young enough to blend in."
"You're not exactly old man river, and Fitz looks younger than us," Skye retorted.
"Time will come when you won't make fun of me for that," Fitz muttered. "You'll be jealous. You'll be jealous, wrinkly old hags."
"And Y/N definitely doesn't look her age! You're what? 99?"
"95," Y/N grumbled. "But we're going with 33."
"And you still don't even look that!"
"Anyway... Fitz is going to talk to Donnie."
"Sorry?"
"Donnie's withdrawn, might know more than he's letting on."
"You're a hero here, Fitz," Ward said. "He looks up to you. Go hang out with him. Even if he has no clue who might be after him, he could use a friend."
"That is a wonderful idea," Simmons commented.
"Rogers and Ward have them from time to time," Fitz said. "I'll meet you later."
Fitz left to go find Donnie. Skye and Simmons turned to face Ward, giving him a teasing look.
"What? It's strategic?" Ward said.
"It's adorable," Simmons commented.
"The Tin Man has a heart after all," Skye added, playing hitting Ward's chest.
"So, where are we going?" Ward asked, trying to change the subject and keep walking.
"You guys realize that I basically came up with the plan, right?" Y/N said, catching up with them.
Skye and Simmons chuckled. Simmons began leading them to where the Cadets hang out.
"SHIELD keeps careful watch of everything within their walls," Simmons started explaining. "So in the late 60's, to escape the cabers and the prying eyes of the faculty, a few Cadets started sneaking down to the boiler room to play cards, you know, exchange ideas."
"My kind of people," Skye said.
"Some amazing breakthroughs have come out of here, so the tradition lives on."
"Of cramming into the boiler room?" Y/N questioned.
Simmons opened a door, allowing them to follow. They could hear music and see strobe lights going off as they journeyed further into the boiler room. One of the walls disappeared and soon they realized they were over looking a whole party area. There was pool, a bar, dancing, anything they could ever want.
"Well, over the years," Simmons continued, "we made a few improvements... Do you have one of these at operations?"
"No," Ward responded, looking surprised.
"Did not think so."
"Drinks are on me," Skye said as they headed down the stairs.
Y/N quickly downed a drink before beginning to make rounds. It wasn't hard to find Cadets to talk to. They all had questions for her. Most of them she was fine with answering. Soon, there was a pretty decent crowd around her, all asking questions at the same time. It was overwhelming. She hadn't realized that she had started to panic until Ward broke through the crowd and led her up the stairs.
"You okay?" He asked.
"Yeah," Y/N mumbled, still trying to calm herself. "I just need some air."
"You sure?"
"I'll be fine, Ward."
Y/N didn't look back as she hurried out of the boiler room. She took some deep breathes once she reached the fresh air. She quickly found a tree that she could sit under, away from the walk ways and people. Y/N sat down and took out her phone. She pulled up her contacts, pausing before she pressed Tony's number. She needed to talk to him, he could make her feel better, calm her down, but she wasn't sure she was ready to face him just yet. So instead, she called Coulson.
"Coulson," he answered.
"Hey, it's me," she replied, obviously a bit shaken up.
"Y/N? Are you okay?"
"Fine. Just... I'm fine. Did you find anything on Skye?"
"We did actually."
Coulson then went on to talk about how him and May tracked down the last agent alive that had been called to Skye's village due to an 0-8-4. All of the other agents had been tracked down, killed, tortured, and the village had been killed off. Avery, the agent that had left Skye at the orphanage, had set up the foster system to move her around every few months.
"Skye's the 0-8-4 they called in," Y/N said, "isn't she?"
"Yes," Coulson answered.
"Does that mean she had powers?"
"We don't know. But it means she needs protection."
"Oh gosh... poor girl..."
"Yeah. How's everything there going?"
"We're trying. Not making any real head way, but we're trying..."
"What set it off?"
"How'd you know?"
"I've known you long enough to know your tells of a panic attack."
"They were asking me too many questions at once, about everything. Couldn't handle it."
"Why didn't you call Stark?"
"We're not exactly in the best place right now..."
"Still should have called him."
"You're probably right... next time."
~~~
Skye, Ward, and Simmons quickly ran out and found Y/N once they got some information from one of the Cadets. Donnie and Seth had staged the attacks and they might had done something to Fitz. Y/N informed them that Coulson was on his why with the Bus and to meet him there. Ward and Y/N immediately informed Agent Weaver about what was going on and started coordinating a search effort, looking for the two rouge Cadets. They paired up, going building to building.
As they were doing that, they were informed that the Cadets were selling to Ian Quinn, a man the team had ran into while Y/N was away. Suddenly, a storm cloud started to rapidly form in the sky, and they knew it was the machine the Cadets had made. The Academy quickly led all their Cadets to the safety of the boiler room.
"Ward, Rogers," Coulson called over the comms. The boiler room was shaking around them. "How are things on the ground?"
"We've got most everyone safe in the boiler room," Ward responded.
"Everybody, move back!" Agent Weaver ordered. "Make some space!"
"How bad is this gonna get?" Y/N asked.
"Bad. Can you two reach the North campus parking garage. We think Donnie Gill and his device may be trapped in the center of the storm."
"It's not far from where we are," Ward replied as they hurried towards the exit. "We can get there."
They opened the door, only to be greeted by massive, hurricane force winds. They both had to work together to get the door shut.
"Yeah, we can't get there," Y/N said.
They moved further into the boiler room, waiting for orders. The room started shaking, and the lights were flickering. Ward wrapped an arm around Y/N to keep her steady. They waited like that until the storm passed and they were giving the all clear. Before heading back to the Bus, Y/N found her way back to the Wall of Valor, where she found Skye. Skye ran her fingers over a name on the wall. The name of the agent that risked her life to protect Skye.
"He told you," Y/N said quietly, standing behind Skye. "I'm so sorry, Skye."
Skye nodded, quietly, keeping her eyes on the wall. Slowly, she turned around, showing Y/N that she was trying not to cry. Y/N moved up and wrapped Skye in her arms, allowing her to break. They stood there, holding onto each other until Skye felt ready to let go.
"Thank you," Skye said. "For putting some faith in me. For having my back."
"You deserve it, Skye," Y/N said with a soft smile. "I know I was skeptical at first, but you deserve to be here. You belong here."