“The secret is out. For decades, your organization stayed in the shadows. Hiding the truth. But now we know – they're among us. Heroes... and monsters. The world is full of wonders.”
She speaks in to the mic, recording the voice over for the latest clip for the Rising Tied. Taking a risk not using any voice modifier, only because she needs a clean way out. It’s been some heavy months since the battle of New York and since she learned that Phil Coulson was killed in action.
The first few weeks back into action with the Rising Tied after learning the truth, she had been completely out of it. She had simply done what had been asked of her and later she realises she have been giving out more than she had first planned on. Lucky for her and her siblings, the things the Rising Tied had gotten their hands on wasn’t something of great importance.
The only reason she was pulled back into reality once more was when she learned that the Rising Tied was trying to get as much information as possible on Ghost-Spider. There was no way she would let this group near Gwen, and if they started to dig to deep, they would learn about her connection with the police force number one enemy.
Ever since then, she has made sure to stay as safe as possible. Cutting of her ties completely with Gwen, who was the only one that would come and visit her. Her connection with her siblings and Victoria had already been minimal before the Battle of New York just so she could keep her secrets.
She did however use her backdoor into S.H.I.E.L.D to keep a close eye on them all, there was no way she would just let them go around and do stupid things without her knowing it. She had also started to look in on Melinda, and to her great surprise and happiness, she finds that her first S.H.I.E.L.D guardian and the first woman she would ever and have ever consider her mother has re-assigned herself to administration work.
Being the ever curious soul that she is, Skye had started to go through all of Melinda’s old field reports, in a try to figure out why she wasn’t out there anymore. And what she had found, even if it was very little, it had made her blood run cold. If it had been her, she would probably have done the same.
She have always know the job her family is doing is a dangerous one, she has after all seen Natasha and Clint return back wounded more times than she cares to count after all. But she had never expected any of them to die, she had always seen them as some types of immortals, someone that death can’t reach. But Phil’s death had been a rude awakening and Skye have spent many hours since then trying to figure out where she is standing in all of this.
“We can’t explain everything we see. But our eyes are open. So what now? There are no more shadows for you to hide in. Something impossible just happened. What are you going to do about it?”
She finish recording the voice-over. Listening on the full recording, she starts adding it to the video the had taken earlier today. The moment the hooded hero landed in front of her, jumping out from the explains top floor, Skye knows her time within the Rising Tied is over.
Since the Battle of New York, she has seen the hacker group growing stronger. They didn’t need her anymore to get to things that was beyond their reach anymore. The world had ended with that battle and the small group of people who wanted to know the truth before the Battle of New York have grown large in numbers.
And so have the enemies, the only reason as to why she was in the spot she was in at this very moment, was because this was where the Centipede project had lead her. And the things she had found out about this new shadow organisation would give anyone nightmares.
Happy with the video editing and the voice-over, she post the video, hopping that the right people will realise what is going on and come and get her out of this. Closing her laptop, Skye looks around herself in her van, knowing that it will probably take a while before rescue will come she makes up her mind.
She will have to figure out who the hooded hero is for herself, just to make S.H.I.E.L.D’s work easier once one of her siblings comes and gets her. Grabbing what she needs, she leaves her van. Not sure where she will even start looking for this man, she heads back to the scene of the explosion, hopping that the man is a local.
To her delight, her eyes lands on the man 15 minutes later and she falls into the shadows, using the training Natasha have given her. She makes sure to keep her distance and blend in with the people around her, seeing how he enters the small dinner her van is parked behind she smiles.
Staying outside of the building for a few minutes, she enters and let her eyes scan the room. Seeing how the man have placed himself by the windows, Skye rolls her eyes, at least the man have left the seat that will give her clear sight at the front door. Taking in a deep breath, she collects herself and all the training her siblings and Melinda have given her and she walks towards the unknown mam.
Sliding into the seat in front of her, she pulls on the mask she created for the persona that is hacker Skye.
“Just act natural.”
She tells the man in a low voice as she places herself in front of him. Eyes looking around her in the dinner.
“What?”
“Just pretend that we're talking.”
“We are.”
“Good. ‘Cause you never know who’s listening.”
Skye says as she finally turns her attention towards the unknown man. All she really want to do is tell him he is in grave danger and just call Maria, Victoria or even Natasha to come and get this man to safety. But as she had been looking around herself, she is quite sure she saw a few faces that have recently joined Rising Tied, people she knows won’t hesitate to rat her out if she does something that goes against Rising Tied, just to prove themselves worthy.
“I don’t even know who’s talking.”
The man says and Skye can see the confusion in his eyes and she feels sorry for him. Glancing down at the paper he have placed on the table, showing the places that are looking for people for work, Skye realises this man’s life isn’t easy in any way possible.
“I’m Skye. And you’re the hooded hero.”
She tells him with a chuckle, only to force herself to act somewhat professionally again.
“Please tell me that you’re not staying with that name.”
She adds, not that he had have any choice in the name taking from the start. The news were good at this sort of things after all.
“Wait. What? I’m not... I’m a factory worker.”
She can see fear, worry and panic take over the man now and Skye wish she could have done this in a easier way.
“Sure, by day. I saw you. You’re a hero. Like, a for-real superhero, which is – I’m not, like, a groupie, stalker type, but –“
She says, using one of her best fake laughter.
“Oh, my God! That is so cool.”
She adds before taking a few deep breath. She hates acting this way, he isn’t the first superhero she have meet after all, dad grow up living with at least two and then there Gwen. But her undercover persona hasn’t so this is what she has to work with.
“Okay, okay, chill. Just don’t... don’t draw attention.”
She says in a low voice, more to herself than to the unknown man in front of her. Once she is sure she has calm herself down properly, she looks up at the man once more.
“You’re in danger.”
She tells him, her eyes narrows slightly as she says it and she can see the man in front of her shift slightly at her sudden change.
“You got the wrong guy, lady.”
He says, trying once more to get her to think she has.
“No, you’ve got the wrong approach. The cute girl from the hospital is dying to thank you – and possibly thank you –“
She says, clearing her throat at the end part to clarify what she is hinting about.
“And you’re hiding. The clip of you rescuing her has had the most hits since that puppy with vertigo. And you can’t even find a job.”
She says, nodding her head to the paper in his hand.
“What do you mean about danger?”
He asks and Skye leans forwards, glancing to the side, she can see that the Rising Tied members have moved slightly closer to listen in on what is going on and Skye hates having to do this part.
“S.H.I.E.L.D.”
“Shield, what? I should carry a shield?”
He asks in confusion and Skye rolls her eyes slightly. Of course this is the respond one will get when hearing the word S.H.I.E.L.D. Who ever came up with the name for the organisation must have loved shields.
“S.H.I.E.L.D. Government. Scary men in dark suits who come after guys like you. They new about the battle of New York before it even happened and then cleaned it up before anyone could ask any real questions. Overnight. How long do you think it’ll take for them to clean you up?”
She asks him, leaning back slightly again and from the corner of her eyes she is quite sure a few of the people in the dinner isn’t all to happy she have said what she just did. It was clear that they are looking for someone to betray them.
“And you want to know why I’m hiding.”
“What if you didn’t hide? What if you got in front of this and let people know that you’re a hero?”
“I’m just a guy.”
The times Skye have heard that line before is starting to make her slightly annoyed. Then again, she can’t blame the people, no one wants to me a hero these days.
“Well, a guy like that get work, gets perks. I can help. I’m great with computers – like, weirdly great.”
She tells her, remembering the times her siblings and Gwen have pointed this out when she was been working her way through something.
“I mean, I could help create a whole new life or a mask.”
She adds only for the man in front of her finally having enough and rises.
“Okay.”
He says and starts to head for the counter. Realising that she is running out of time, she gets up and rushes towards him, only to knock into him in the progress.
“Uh, ok – well, you could just – also, we could just with the – hood. Listen, you cannot walk away from this. With great power comes… a ton of weird crap that you are not prepared to deal with. Now my office is-.”
She tells him, only for him to interrupt her.
“You have an office?”
“Yes, I have an office. It’s a mobile… office. It’s a… van. I live in a van… by choice. But it’s always in the alley around the corner… free wi-fi… and you can come by anytime!”
“Thank you.”
The man tells her before leaving the restaurant, giving Skye the feeling that he wont come looking for her himself.
“They’re coming for you.”
She calls after him before looking down into her hand. When she had knocked into him earlier, she had managed to get a hold of his id card, a trick Natasha had thought was a skill she would need and she had been right about that.
“Mike.”
She says his name in a low voice. Finally having a name on the mysterious man, she knows she need to work a lot faster, she needs to send out a new message and hope Maria will pick up on it. Last case, she would have go call her sister directly. Which is somethings she doesn’t want to do. With a deep breath, she leaves the restaurant and heads for her van, that is parked just around the corner.
Entering her van, she double check to see if any of her siblings have reached out for her, when none of them have, Skye let’s out a heavy sigh.
“You guys are really going to make me do all the work huh?”
She says to herself as she starts working on the next video, keeping all connections open just in case. Finding some old videos she’s taken and never used, she set up the mic to start recording the next voice over.
“How will you come at us? From the air? From the ground? How will you silence us this time? How can you? The truth is in the wind.”
She starts recording, realising that she isn’t making much sense, but at least she is using some of the words that should get Maria or Victoria’s attention if they are listening to this.
“It’s everywhere. You cannot stop the Rising Tied. You will not find us. You will never see our faces. But rest assured... we will rise against those who shield us from the truth.”
She says, adding a bit more tone to shield.
“And nothing... nothing can stop us in the-“
She continues only to fall silent as the side door of her van is suddenly pulled open. Turning her head, her eyes lands on Phil and an unknown young man.
“Hey. What’s up?”
She asks with a smile, happy to see Phil once more. But before she has a chance to say anything else, the unknown young man puts a bag over her head.