Hearing the alarm on an incoming message, Skye rises from the seat she had taken, the book she had been reading being placed on the table. Following the rest of the team into the briefing room, Skye can see that neither of them are ready for this one.
“Chan Ho Yin. Just a struggling street performer until a few years ago, when Mr. Chan began to exhibit moderate pyrokinetic abilities.”
Coulson starts to explain once everyone is there.
“So what gave him powers?”
Fitz asks the question that is going through most of them in the moment, and Skye isn’t all to sure she wish to know the answer to this question.
“It’s still under investigation, but Chan did live near a decommissioned Wan Tai nuclear plant when it caught fire. To our knowledge, no other nearby residents have exhibited similar traits.”
“So how did we find out about him?”
“Informant saw him lightning torches in a street show… with his pinkie.”
Melinda is the one to explain Simmons question and Skye has a feeling what will be said next.
“Brought it to S.H.I.E.L.D’s attention. We told him to keep his abilities under wraps. He’s been on the Index ever since.”
Coulson explains and Skye had been right, she didn’t like where they were going. Natasha and Clint had told her and Gwen all about the Index when they learned about Gwen’s powers. It’s also why her abilities and everything else is so deeply protected. Even if she is under S.H.I.E.L.D protection, no one but her, Natasha, Maria, Clint, Victoria and the Avengers knows about her spider abilities, and even that list is a bit too long for Skye to feel comfortable.
“The Index?”
She asks, knowing she should since she isn’t supposed to know what it is.
“It’s a list S.H.I.E.L.D keeps of people and objects with powers.”
Simmons explains, making Skye turn her attention towards the biochemist.
“Wait. What? How many are there? Are you saying there are more people –“
“Not many.”
Melinda cuts in, making Skye roll her eyes.
“Well, enough to keep a list."
She points out and she can see that this comment at least makes Melinda and Coulson think.
“A short list, meant to protect them.”
Coulson clarifies, which makes Skye calm down slightly.
“Though, in rare cashes, S.H.I.E.L.D has had to take action.”
Ward asks, making Skye grow worried once more. This man really don’t know when the keep his mouth close.
“Action against objects or people?”
She asks, turning her attention towards Ward, eyes narrowed. The look she is being given answer her suspicion that it’s more of a putting-down-the-sick-dog than baby-proofing-the-house. And this just proves she is happy her siblings went the extra length to keep Gwen away from S.H.I.E.L.D as much as possible.
“Well, that’s drastic with a side of creepy. How are they monitored… Tapped phones, satellite surveillance, body probes in dark, unpleasant places?”
Skye can’t help herself ask, realising this has taken a turn of a more, personal matter. From the corner of her eyes, she can see how Simmons grimaces as she speaks.
“Body probes? Now, that’s ridiculous. S.H.I.E.L.D doesn’t do that. We don’t do that.”
Fitz says with a shake of his head, only to turn to look at Coulson with a slight worry in his eyes.
“Do we?”
He asks and Skye rolls her eyes.
“The methos vary.”
Is the reply Coulson gives them and Skye can feel how her eyes grows at this, knowing fully well that she is giving him a are you kidding me look right about now.
“Mr Chan was a low-risk. He was assigned a case agent who checked in with him every few days.”
Coulson finally starts to explain, which makes Skye relax only slightly. At least it could have been much worse. Seeing how Melinda starts to work on connecting a facetime call to the big monitor.
“That’s how we discovered him missing.”
Coulson adds as the call goes through and to Skye’s surprise, Melinda is the one leading the conversation with the agent on the screen.
“Everyone, this is agent Kwan, Chan Ho Yin’s case agent.”
Melinda then explains, turning her attention back to the team. In this moment, Skye wished the had learned what she think is Cantonese too when she had the chance. She, alongside FitzSimmons gives the man on the screen a small wave.
“What can you tell us?”
Melinda then asks, turning her attention towards the man on the screen once more.
“Not much, I’m afraid. Chan is a magician, so at first, I thought he’d made himself disappeared.”
“The file says you’d caught him violating his Index agreement before.”
“On two separate occasions… claimed we were ‘hampering his artistic expression’. But late last night, he was taken by professionals. They only thing they left behind was this scrap of aluminized material.”
Kwan explain, holding up something to the camera so they could all see what it is.
“Fireproof clothing.”
“so whoever took him knew about his power.”
“Yes, and we think we know why. Over the last few days, tech division discovered a crack into our data stream. It’s the same cyber punks who hacked us before. Somehow, they got in again. It’s the Rising Tied.”
The agent on the screen tells them and Skye could feel how the team all turns to look at her. She had been right, this mission is about to be more complicated than it needs to be.
“Hello? It got real quiet. You guys still there?”
They can hear Kwan asks, Melinda being the first one to turn her attention towards him, starting to speak in Cantonese once more.
“My office.”
Coulson orders Skye who nods her head, keeping it low as she follows Coulson out from the briefing room. To her horror, Ward follows them. Once they are in his office, Coulson takes his seat behind his desk and Ward stays at the door, making sure Skye can’t escape.
“The Rising Tied I’d a huge organization of hacktivists from all around the world. Any of them could have done this! It wasn’t me!”
Skye tells them before either of the agents has a chance to speak, keeping her eyes on Coulson.
“No one’s saying it was.”
Ward points our, making Skye turn around to look at him. Her eyes narrowed.
“But you’re thinking it. I can see your faces thinking it.”
“We’re assessing the situation.”
Coulson says, making Skye turn her attention towards him.
“Then I’m sure you’re taking into account that I have been living on a plane with you this whole time. It would be impossible for me to hack S.H.I.E.L.D.”
Skye tells Coulson, not liking what he is thinking of her in this moment.
“Or easier. We’re gonna need more than that.”
Coulson tells her, in this moment Skye wish he knew who he is speaking to. If he just knew she is Mary, she knows fully well that he wouldn’t question her loyalty like this. Feeling Ward’s eyes on her however, Skye keeps her mouth. There is no way she will tell Coulson she is Mary in front of him.
“Fine. Let me trace the hack, and I’ll prove it.”
She tells him, keeping eye contact with Coulson, challenging him to say no. The moment he nods his head however, Skye calms down. Turning around, she waves Ward to move from the door, she can see he isn’t happy about it but he does. Leaving the tow agents, Skye heads for the briefing room where Melinda, Simmons and Fitz still are waiting. Moving to stand beside Fitz, she starts working without saying a word to them.
After a few minutes of working, Coulson and Ward finally joins them.
“How close are we?”
Coulson asks as Ward walks over to stand by Melinda, still clear that he isn’t happy about the chance Skye has been given, or rather taken for herself.
“Almost there.”
Skye tells them, not looking up.
“She’s identified the remote-access Trojan and the infected endpoint-“
“And is searching for a TCP to correlate the hypertext with signature information and then-“
“Bob’s your uncle/ Voilà”
Fitz and Simmons explains, finishing up at the same time. This makes Skye smile slightly, at least someone on the plane understand what she is doing.
“You get any of that?”
“Only the uncle part.”
Coulson asks, sounding more confused than normal and Ward answered him.
“We got our origin: L.A”
Skye finally informs them, pulling up the information on the big screen.
“You got a name?”
“Just the cafe our hacker worked out of, but I’m in the system. I’m gonna check to see if any credit card charges from that day match up with any known hacker.”
Skye tells him, keeping her eyes on the work she is doing. Finally funding what she is looking for.
“We got a hit."
She says, pulling up the information on the hacker.
“Miles Lydon, not Skye... that’s to all our relief.”
Fitz comments beside her, making Skye roll her eyes. She is happy that at least someone believes she isn’t behind all of this.
“You know him?”
Coulson asks and Skye rolls her eyes. Eve after she proves herself he questions her.
“Every hacker in the world knows him.”
“Not just the hacker world. He infiltrated the Kremlin.”
“Yeah, the pic of, uh, Putin shirtless on horseback – that was his hack.”
Simmons and Fitz informs, both laughing lightly and Skye smiles. She is really happy to have the two of them there. Without knowing it, they are helping her tremendously.
“It was also his hack that got Chan kidnapped.”
Ward informs them, making FitzSimmons stop laughing and Skye eyes him. There was not a single funny bone in his body, that’s for sure.
“May, set course for L.A.”
Coulson orders, Melinda already working on a tablet.
“Just did.”
She informs and Skye can feel the plane changing.
“What about Chan?”
She asks, turning her attention towards Coulson.
“Kwan’s got a S.H.I.E.L.D team on the ground. Our best bet is to chase this thing from the other end. Find Mr. Lydon, bring him in. See what he knows.”
Coulson orders as heads nods. One after a other they leave the briefing room, Skye being the last one. If they managed to grab this hacker, well, she needs to figure out what her next step should be.
-X-X-X-X-
Feeling the plan going in for landing, Skye grabs her jacket, knowing she wouldn’t be left alone on the plane in a situation like this. She might have proven she wasn’t the hacker, but she can tell Coulson isn’t fully sure if he can trust her.
Meeting with the rest of the team downstairs once Melinda has landed, Skye starts to wonder what Coulson’s plan is and hopping with everything she has that he doesn’t assigned her with Ward at least.
“Alright, we need to spread out, keep a low profile and just follow him for now. If he decode to run, call it in.”
Coulson starts to explain, a simple plan that could go both ways. Seeing how Coulson turns his attention towards her, Skye feels how her worry grows.
“Skye, I want you to check out the cafe see if anyone there has seen this man recently.”
He orders, surprised, Skye can only nod her head. This wasn’t what she expected, but she will take it either way, she’s not stupid enough to question his decision.
Heading into city, Skye heads directly to the cafe to talk to the staff. A group she have meet before that happily gives her the information she needs, even if it’s not the information she wanted.
Walking out from the cafe, she calls it in.
“Just left the cafe where Miles logged in. Cashier says she hasn’t seen him in over a week.”
“I may have eyes on him.”
Hearing Ward say that, Skye is a bit surprised to say the least. She thought he would have left the city by now.
“I’ve been made. Heading east on 5th Street.”
Rolling her eyes, Skye should have known Miles isn’t the only one here. As she is about to speak up, her own phone starts to ring. Turning of her mic, she pulls out her phone to see the unknown number. Feeling worried, she answer the call anyway.
“Skye.”
“Hello, this is officer Grey. We were told to call you if we arrests Spider-woman.”
The voice on the other end of the line says, making Skye let out a heavy sigh.