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Skye was led down a couple of stairs with a bunch of guards standing nearby while Ward commented beside her, "Checking exits, numbers of men, weapons inventory. I'm impressed. How's your marksmanship?"
She nonchalantly replied as he continued to lead her to a room, "I don't know. Hand me your side handgun and let's find out."
"Cool under pressure. I see May's teaching you control." Ward said which made Skye remark, "That's one of our differences. In S.H.I.E.L.D, they train you to control yourself; H.Y.D.R.A wants to control everyone else."
"I'm not loyal to H.Y.D.R.A. My orders were to collect Raina. Bringing you along was my idea." Ward simply commented.
"What're you doing?" Skye questioned as he cut the wires off of her wrists.
Ward stepped over to the doors and looked back at her and replied, "Keeping my promise." He walked into the room with Skye following behind and both noticed a man in a suit, Ward adding, "I'm sure you two have a lot of catching up to do."
Ward then left out of the room and closed the door behind him, leaving her father and herself alone.
Skye folded her hands in front of her waist and tilted her head a little, making Cal speak up first, "Look at that. The way you tilt your head. It's just like... Is it nature or nurture?" His voice broke some as he started, "I promised myself..." He cleared his throat and continued, "I wouldn't get emotional, just-"
Her father sighed and continued again, "I've waited so long for this moment. Let's try again." He recomposed himself and looked back at the woman before starting again, "Hi, I'm Cal. I'm your father. Would you like to sit down?" She shook her head slowly, not moving an inch. "Right. Me neither. Thank you for meeting with me."
"Thank you for...? Are you serious? I was kidnapped off a plane at gun point." Skye spoke up finally, taking a step forward, "That's all you have to say?"
"You're right. Oh, I'm sorry." He replied, "Let's not lose our heads. I-I-I'm just a little nervous. I hope it's okay to admit that to you. This is a big moment. Father, daughter, family reunion. I wanted it to be perfect. I-- I had plans. Those little almond cookies, you know? Flowers, maybe?" Cal smiled a little. "Not like this. Not here."
Skye continued to watch him carefully as he said, "My God. You are beautiful. Well, I don't know what you know about me."
"You're a monster, a murderer, a trail of death wherever you go." Skye spoke up, her eyes slightly watery.
Cal admitted sadly, "Those are all true, but you need to understand. My little girl... You were taken from me, and my world fell apart. It was the worst day of my life, losing you, but I didn't lose you. I wasn't careless. I didn't forget you were stolen from me!"
Skye took a step back while the man moved over to the chair and sat down while he continued, "I wasn't always like this. I wasn't always a... Oh. You were born in China. Your mother was Chinese. When you were first born-" He sighed, "We were so happy. I worked in a clinic. People liked me. I liked myself. "
"So what happened?" Skye softy asked him, her eyebrows furrowed some.
"This is the thing I want to say." Cal answered, standing back up and facing her again, "I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you, that I couldn't protect you... that I couldn't teach you about the stars..." His voice began to break again as he choked back some tears, "Or sing you to sleep."
Tears came to her eyes then as he continued, "I know I'm a terrible disappointment, but I'm here now. And everything that's about to happen is supposed to happen. I'm gonna take care of you."
"Then get me out of here." Skye replied which made him look at her in slight surprise and asked, "What? Oh. Maybe I haven't been clear. You're exactly where you're supposed to be. This is your destiny."
"You can't say that you're sorry or that losing me ruined your life and then kidnap me and say that my destiny is to be locked up with you and team H.Y.D.R.A." Skye stated, "It's crazy and it's creepy, and I'm out of here."
Skye moved back over to the door and open it to be blocked by four masked guards clad in black. She glanced back at Cal and commented, "Tell them to get out of the way."
"Sorry. Hello." Cal chuckled and told the guards and closed the door, "Little misunderstanding. As-- As you were."
He looked at his grown daughter again and pointed out, "They don't matter. After today, none of them will matter."
"Of course they matter. You work for H.Y.D.R.A. They are the bad guys. That makes you a bad guy." Skye also pointed out.
"No, I don't! I don't work for H.Y.D.R.A! I could never-- I needed them to find you, to put the pieces together. It's not your fault." Cal commented as she sat down on the couch, "You asked about your mother, about what happened to her."
"Your mother was special. I know some people use that word a lot to describe someone who they love. That's not what I mean." Cal continued, "Your mother was special because she had a gift. She comes from a line of people who have gifts. You have a gift. It's why I brought you here- so you can receive it. It's your birthright."
"There's a transformation, a-a change that has to happen." Cal further explained, getting on one knee to be eye to eye level with her while she remained sitting on the couch.
"Tell me what happened to my mom." Skye began.
"She was... There's no easy way to say this." Cal started to answer, "She worked with me at the clinic. My Chinese wasn't very good, so she'd help translate..."
"One day, a group of men came in. They were looking for your mother. We tried to fight. I tried-"
"H.Y.D.R.A?" Skye quietly inquired.
"They called themselves S.H.I.E.L.D. They took her... and said she was dangerous." Cal admitted, "I knew better. Her gift wasn't like that. I left you with people I trusted."
He sat down on the couch also and continued, "I tracked your mother to Europe. But by the time I caught up with them, it was too late. I'm s-sorry."
He began to hum a familiar lullaby, causing Skye to look over at him and murmur, "I've heard that before."
"She used to sing it to you when you were a baby." Cal said as a guard came and retrieved him.
After a few minutes, two guards entered the room and led the woman out also as the leader of H.Y.D.R.A, Whitehall, finished whatever he was saying to Raina, Ward, and her father, "-I have just one question. How does she fit in?"
"I needed insurance that S.H.I.E.L.D wouldn't blow us out of the sky." Ward answered his boss.
"But you also ordered that the S.H.I.E.L.D plane shouldn't be shot down. I had to counter that order myself." Whitehall replied, which made Skye widen her eyes at that, "I have a theory as to why she's here."
An agent for him held up a silver briefcase facing Skye then and opened it to reveal a weird silver object inside it. "I'd like you to pick it up." He continued as Skye simply remarked, "You first."
A guard behind her cocked his gun at the woman who looked at him and glanced over at her father who nodded slightly; Skye sighed and reached in the case, picking up the object as it began to glow an orange color.
The group was surprised, except for Cal, just as Skye moved the Obelisk towards the guard on her left side and touched his shoulder with it; He then screamed and fell to the floor as he turned to stone.
Whitehall stepped towards her and said, "I hope you're as special as your mother."
***
Skye ran down the cave tunnels and entered a stone room that had a pedestal in the center of room. Raina held the Obelisk in her hand as she spoke up, "I knew you'd come."
"Somebody has to stop you." Skye replied as Raina continued, "Your whole life, our whole lives, have been leading to this moment."
"Sorry. I don't buy into the whole "This is your destiny" thing. We're taking the Obelisk, and we're leaving. There are too many lives at stake." Skye stated, still aiming her pistol at her.
"You've got it all wrong. Whitehall, everyone, has got it all wrong. This doesn't destroy. It gives life- new life." Raina commented, gesturing to the Obelisk in her hand, "We finally get to find out what we become."
A warbling sound came from the object in her hand as it glowed again, Skye starting towards her, "Make it stop."
Raina chuckled and let go of the Obelisk as it floated in the air, "I can't. Neither of us can now." The Obelisk landed on top of the pedestal just as a rumbling sounded throughout the room.
Skye looked around in fear, slightly breathless. "If you want to leave, now's your chance." Raina began just as the doors began to close shut, "I gotta admit, I'm just the tiniest bit nervous."
Tripp then ran into the room as Skye moved over to him, panicked. "Tripp! What are you doing here?"
"Came to get you." He simply said just as the Obelisk began to open to reveal some dull blue crystals inside it. "How do we stop it?"
"I don't think we can." Skye muttered.
"What's supposed to happen?" Tripp questioned which Raina simply answered once the crystals began to glow brightly and grew larger, "Something beautiful."
As soon as it finished opening, a gush of wind pushed the three of them back a step just as Skye felt really strange; A high pitched ringing, warbling sounded from it as Skye noticed gray rocks began to form all over her body.
She dropped her gun as it landed on the ground with a thud. "Oh, God. Oh- Oh, God..." Skye gasped and exclaimed towards her friend, "Tr-Tripp!" It soon spread and covered her face.
The crystals then exploded, letting out another gust of wind as it sent Tripp to the floor. He grunted some and looked over at Raina and then Skye who were both statues, his eyes watered, letting out, "No. No!"
Tripp gasped some, glancing down at his waist to see that he had a crystal impaled in him as he was then turned into a statue also.
After about five minutes, Skye's fingers and left elbow became free of the rock covering all of her body and then parts of the rock chipped off of her face to reveal her brown eyes as she glanced back over at Tripp to see him completely a statue.
The cave began to tremble while the whole rock cocoon blasted off of Skye, her brown hair blowing off of her shoulders as she watched the pieces of the cocoon dissolve into shreds and fly away from her, scattering all across the room, her fists clenched.
A rumbling sounded around her as her eyes watered while she watched Tripp crumble into dust; The rumbling increased while pieces of the ceiling began to fall.
She glanced down and back at Tripp's statue that finished collapsing to pieces, herself then falling to the ground and blacked out.
***
Skye was now sitting Indian-style on an infirmary bed in a quarantine room; She looked down at her vitals on the monitor on her left arm.
She then laid down on the bed on her side and closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep; But what happened down in that cave kept flashing inside of her head.
She rolled over on her back and notice Coulson sitting in a desk chair outside of her quarantine room. "I haven't been able to sleep, either," He started.
Skye sat up and moved her legs on the side of it, letting out, "I keep thinking Tripp is gonna come see me, make fun of me for being sick in quarantine, call me a goldfish or a hamster or something." She sighed, her voice starting to break, "And every time time I wake up... I remember all over again. I just can't believe he's not coming back. He should not have been down there."
"You both went in for a good reason." Coulson replied, "To prevent H.Y.D.R.A from starting a cataclysm."
"He was trying to save me-" Skye began.
Coulson stood up and moved closer to the window and replied, "He may have saved all of us. The Obelisk triggered a massive earthquake. Imagine how much worse it could have been if he hadn't destroyed it. He died a hero."
"Once Medical clears you, we'll get you out of there." Coulson reassured, "You'll just be stuck underground like the rest of us."
"How's everyone doing?" Skye lightly asked as he answered, "Just trying to keep busy. Everyone deals with it in their own way... When you sign up for this kind of life, you accept that loss will be part of it, but you never get used to losing one of your own, especially when it's a good man like Tripp."
"It happens too much. And over time, it makes it harder to let people in. Sometimes, just makes you want to pack up and run." He finished.
She asked him, "Is that what you want to do? Run?"
"Sometimes. You?"
Skye sniffled and glanced away and back at him. "Couldn't even if I tried." She sighed and asks, "How long did it take Mack to get out of quarantine?"
"He cleared pretty quickly. Whatever took over his system is gone, but he's pretty shaken up."
"Can I call my family? They're probably worried that I haven't came back yet-" Skye began.
"Not until you're cleared by medical, alright? Just focus on resting, Skye." Coulson cut her off gently, placing a hand on the window and then dropped it.
"Can I please just call my brother? I won't be able to rest without talking to him." Skye insisted desperately, her eyes now watery.
Coulson sighed some and moved over to the compartment and placed his cell phone inside it and stepped back. "Thank you." She softly replied, taking his phone out of the compartment and began dialing Donald's number.
She put the phone up to her ear as it began to ring; Donald then answered on the second ring, "Donald Davenport, the most awesome genius there is... Hello? Who is this?"
Skye closed her eyes and inhaled a little shakily and started, her voice breaking ever so slightly, "It's me, Big D- Skye."
"Skye, where've you been? It's been a week since you left for your work. You're usually not gone this long. Is everything okay?" Donald questioned before adding in concern, "Are you okay?"
Coulson and some scientists had stepped out of the room to give the woman some privacy. "I-- I will be... Um, Donnie, I might be gone for awhile. I'm- I'm so sorry..." Her voice broke some more at the end, "Tell the kids, I don't know, I miss them so much..."
"Skye, are you in trouble? You hurt? I'll come get you if-" Donald began like a big brother he is.
"I, um, I'm fine... Hey, I-I, uh, have to go now. Boss is calling me. See you later, Donnie." Skye then cut him off and hang up, sitting back on the bed.
She took a deep breath and glanced over at her heart rate on the screen. Everything will be okay.
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