Nice Superpower
"So, you can see weaknesses," he said. "Nice superpower," he added with a nod.
"Yes," she replied. She knew this was actually the beginning of a question, and that this was just the icebreaker.
"That's come in handy," he acknowledged. "Guess I just thought it was your Hacker-Fu this whole time."
He was sitting against the wall of the tiny cell, jacket off, laid neatly on the floor. His tie was loosened, his sleeves rolled up. They were going to be here for awhile. It was an old HYDRA oubliette, probably French, pre-WWII. It was a place they dumped prisoners they wanted to forget for awhile.
"Find the exploit. How many times did you ask me to do that?" she said from the dark, leaning into it.
"Lots," he smirked, looking down at the floor. "What am I thinking right now?" he asked, looking up at her.
"I'm not clairvoyant, A.C.," she rolled her eyes, realized it would be lost on him in the dark.
"But, it's kind of like that, right?" he asked. "I mean, you can tell from my body language, or the tone of my voice, my eye movements..."
"I can sense your anxiety," she said tensely. "And to be honest, it's not my favorite flavor on you."
He wanted to smile at that, but didn't.
"The N.O.V.A. file," he said, "It indicated that the Kree had been searching for you."
What it had actually said was 'Request GH Mahr Vehl status. And the reply: Terminated.
"It's not an acronym, by the way," she said flatly.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"N.O.V.A. It means the Nova Corps. It's alien paramilitary."
"How do you figure?" he asked.
"The same way I know," she said, walking over and kneeling down in from of him, "that Marh Vehl is your little Guest House injection buddy."
Coulson tensed. The way she'd said it. His experiments. He swallowed. "All of this is because Raina used the machine on you..."
"Sure is," she said bluntly. "And then I scoured the full disclosure SHIELD files, and found all the references to N.O.V.A. And then the word 'TAHITI' came up. Not much there, but I obviously made the connection."
"I-I don't remember any of the details," Coulson said honestly. "I wish I could help."
"I know," she replied. "But Raina remembered the Nova Corps. And she told me why they were looking for me. And why they cooperated with SHIELD to take out the Kree Officer."
Coulson stood up, began walking around the small circular space. Lady Sif had told him the Kree had never been to Earth before. Was she lying? No, he had no reason to doubt Sif. If SHIELD was keeping secrets from the Asgardians, cooperating with paramilitary aliens...
"She did other things, too," she continued, sounding distant, like she was drifting.
Coulson's eyes got wide, he got to his feet, went over to her, reached out.
"Don't," she said, tears starting to form, thrusting an arm between them.
He forgot for the moment that she could see all of his weaknesses. Forgot about the weight of yet another SHIELD betrayal, of his former self. This inexplicable knowing that it was more important than his own fears.
"It's okay," he said, pulling her into an embrace.
She put her arms between them, fussed a bit to keep some distance, then gave in, letting him hug her. Tears began to fall, her arms went from her sides to pulling on his shirt, wrestling with something inside of herself.
"You want to know," she said, "If I've just been using your weaknesses, all this time, to get what I've wanted." she asked, with pleading eyes.
He couldn't know, could he? Maybe she was doing it now. It frightened him. He'd lost so many things, and held on...to her.
"The thought did cross my mind," he said, looking down into her eyes. He let go of her, walked away. Took a deep breath and turned back. "My feelings for you, have not always been...professional." He said it like an apology.
"Yeah," she said, "That's been kind of confusing." A smile cracked at a corner of her mouth. "Fun, but confusing."
She was surprising him again. He thought he was either setting himself up for a 'You Dirty Old Man let me tell you something' speech or, the worst, a confession that she had maybe been manipulating him all along.
"This is kind of liberating, really," he said, relieved, awkward. "Knowing that you probably have a pretty good idea of what..."
Skye closed the distance, silencing him with a kiss. Her hands grabbing the lapels of the shirt and pulling him into her. It was a 'Phil, you're now officially talking too much, kiss.' His body tensed, and then he let his doubts go. He wrapped her in his arms, kissed her back.
"Okay," he gasped, "We definitely have to get out of here." He broke away and swooped up his jacket, began looking around, feeling the walls. Seeing the night sky above them, the greenery beginning to creep in from the grate 15 feet above.
"Wow, you're welcome," she said sarcastically.
"Skye," he said, grinning back at her. "*That* is not happening in a place like *this*," he resumed feeling along the walls, the floor. "What are you doing Friday night?"
"You mean if we escape from this hole in the ground?"
"No, I mean *when* we get out of here, because we *are*, and, y'know, what do you think about Paris? Ever been?"
She just blinked. This guy.
"I said Raina did other things to me," she nodded. "Well, one of them," her eyes turned to Phil, he caught a flash of green in them, right? "Is this," she said, her fists closing, concentration forming on her face, as Phil looked up and saw vines from above push the grate away and begin climbing downward, downward, growing towards them.
"Please tell me you are doing that," he said, a little freaked out.
"Yes," she said, when they'd reached the bottom, touching the floor. "They know Cotati. Like Raina."
"So," he said, motioning to the vines, "You could do that the whole time?"
Skye shrugged. "Some other stuff had to get out of the way first," she said dryly.
"My weaknesses, you see them? All of them?"
She nodded. "But you taught me something valuable, Phil," she said, grabbing one of the vines, wrapping it around her wrist. "That a shield exists to protect the weakest parts."
He was kind of awestruck.
Paris, it would be.
"Coming?" she asked, as the vine lifted her upwards.