Legacy

“Ow!” Skye groaned, as she was flipped on the matted floor of the Hub’s gym.

“Again,” Melinda May said, as Skye’s opponent held down her hand to help her get up.

“Mom, I need a break,” Skye told the older woman standing outside the matted zone.

“10-minute water break,” May said, giving the girls a nod, before leaving the gym to give them a moment.

“Are you ok?” the other girl, physically identical to Skye except for the shorter hair, asked with a smile.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. A little sore, but I’ll live, Dee,” she smiled at the short-haired girl. “Not everyone in the family can be a martial arts prodigy like you or mom.”

“You’re good, too, Skye! You are my favorite sparring partner.”

“I’m also your only sparring partner,” Skye smirked, taking her water bottle to rehydrate herself.

“Mom’s sparred with each of us a few times.”

“Yeah, but she kicks our asses every time.”

“True,” Dee said, drinking her own water. “But I think you are being modest with yourself. You’re a good fighter. That’s why we were both accepted into the academy with martial arts classes.”

“I thought I was accepted because I have two PhDs in computer sciences and software engineering,” Skye said, grinning smugly.

“I guess that helped, little sis,” Daisy said, painting the same expression as her sister, bopping Skye’s water bottle.

“Daisy!” Skye yelped, clumsily trying to grab the bottle in the air and failing.

“Alright, sparring continues,” their mother said, coming back to the gym, their father – Phil Coulson – hot on her heel. The girls went back to the mats, circling each other on the matted area.

“Just so you recall, I’m just 10 minutes younger than you, so…” Skye said, as they tapped each other’s gloves to start the fight. The younger twin struck first, but Daisy grabbed Skye’s fist, spinning her so she had her back to her, and kicked her in the back, dropping her hold before doing so. The kick forced Skye a few inches away, but Skye was quick to regain her bearings, kicking her sister in the hip.

The two then exchanged blows for a few minutes, until Skye hit Daisy in the stomach before using her moment of weakness to do a leg sweep, making her sister fall on the ground. The fight wasn’t over, as Daisy recovered quickly from the fall and kicked Skye in the back of the knee, forcing her to fall on her knee so Daisy could push her down and proceed to do an arm lock. When that was done, Skye tapped on Daisy’s leg so her sister could loosen the tension and they got back to their feet. “Skye, you should keep your guard high, never assume your opponent is down until it’s official, and use your hips more when you punch,” May told her youngest daughter, who nodded. “Daisy, your form was good, but you should tense up less during the fight, keep the agility up. You might be smaller than most opponents, but you both can use that as an advantage, be more agile.” Both girls nodded, and returned to their fighting stances. “Last match, then we are going home for the rest of the evening. You have packing to do,” May instructed, and they both nodded again, starting the fight. 

For the past 2 months, home had been a 2-bedroom and 2-bathroom apartment near the Hub. Since they were going to SHIELD academy tomorrow, their parents kept them close and opted to take smaller missions that would only last for a few days at a time, and they made sure that one parent was always at home, so no missions together or at the same time. It also made sure that the twins weren’t left at their aunt Maria’s house or in China with their grandparents. 

Being SHIELD agents, May and Coulson moved often, unable to stay in one place for too long. They brought their kids at first, but it made it hard to make friends, so the agents decided to have them stay with their grandparents while they were on long missions, or when they had short consecutive ones. They made sure to visit as often as they could, or bring them as some sort of vacation if the mission wasn’t too dangerous or long. Luckily, the girls did school online their entire lives, so they could do their studies from wherever they were in the world. Whenever they came to visit their parents at the Hub or Triskelion, there was always room for them either on base, or at their parents’ apartment, since they often opted for a 2-bedroom place. 

Living in China, the two had to learn Mandarin, but during their visits, their parents also taught them Russian and Spanish. The twins, however, wanted to know their own language together, without one of their parents or grandparents eavesdropping on them while speaking to one another in different languages. If they learned German or Ukrainian or Catalan, Melinda or Phil would be able to understand some of it, so they needed to find something far from their range of known languages. That was why they started to learn Polish; neither of their parents knew the language or anything derived from it.

Once the last fight was over, in favor of Skye winning that one, the family left the Hub and drove to their apartment so the girls could start packing up their things.

“Będę tęsknić za tym... (I’m going to miss this…)” Daisy told her sister, in Polish, as they packed their two suitcases each. Their room wasn’t too big or too small, and they kept their beds close, while each of their cabinets were on opposite sides of the room, next to each of their desks.

“Za czym będziesz tęsknić? (What are you going to miss?)” Skye asked, not even looking up to her sister, who had finished her fist suitcase and was starting to pack her second one.

“To. Podróżowanie z mamą i tatą po całym świecie. Dziwnie byłoby pozostać w jednym miejscu przez tak długi czas. (This. Traveling with mom and dad all over the world. It'll be weird to stay in one place for such a long period of time)” Daisy explained, and then she was engulfed in a hug from her sister, quickly returning the gesture. The two of them loved that when their parents weren’t on missions, they would take them places all over the world.

“Przynajmniej będziesz miał kogoś, kto będzie miał tam swoje plecy. (At least you will have someone to have your back there.)” Daisy ended the hug, an eyebrow raised at Skye.

“Kto jest? (Who is?)”

“Ja, głuptasie! (Me, silly!)” Skye exclaimed, but Daisy now had a wide smirk on her face, making Skye smack her in the arm.

“Girls, dinner has arrived!” their father’s voice sounded through the door of their room.

“Niech zgadnę, znowu jemy tajskie ... jak wczoraj. 10 dolarów mówi, że to tajskie, (Let me guess, we're eating Thai again... like yesterday. $10 says it’s Thai.)” Daisy said, a fake exasperated look on her face as they both walked out of their room, laughing at the older twin’s words.

“Jesteś na. (You’re on.)” Skye said, and they continued to laugh.

“Girls, you know the rules. English only at the dinner table,” May warned her daughters, as she took two more boxes from the bag in the kitchen. They had established the ‘only English’ rule at the dinner table when they were all in China when the girls were 7 years old and their grandparents were helping Melinda teach them Mandarin. They didn’t understand all the languages everyone knew, so it was easier if they all spoke one common language at the dinner table.

“Sorry, Māmā,” the twins said at the same time, as they sat at their usual spots. Their parents placed all the Thai food boxes in the middle of the table for everyone to dig in, ignoring the obvious passing of a $10 bill under the table from Skye to Daisy.

Dinner was mostly spent with everyone chatting about their day, what the girls were excited about going to the academy and a lot of passing of the boxes. “May we be excused,” Skye asked her parents, after a moment of silent consultation with her sister, once dinner was over. Coulson nodded with a smile, while May just started to take the plates away to the sink. 

They took all that as a yes, and returned to their room to finish packing. The two girls were only 16 years old and ready to start their own lives inside of SHIELD. They knew that being legacies of two of the best agents in their time would be a challenge, getting out of their shadows. Daisy was the most skilled fighter between the two, though they were both very good. Her family ties to May and her current skill level were the main reasons why the Academy of SHIELD Operations had wanted her – badly – though she couldn’t tell which one had a bigger impact, her last name or her fighting skills.

Skye had the bigger brains of the two. At age 16 she had managed to gain 2 PhDs, which was impressive, and she was also a talented fighter, so they decided to let her have two courses maximum in Operations plus the courses she wanted at Sci-Tech.

The week before, they had received the courses they would get during their first year at the academy. Daisy had courses in 3 different fighting styles (kickboxing, krav maga and muay Thai), manipulation, a dance elective – which her mother hated – and weapons training, which made it a total of 6 courses that Daisy could get into. Skye’s workload looked a tad (read: crazy) bigger; muay Thai and weapons training at Operation and history of SHIELD, holographic engineering 1, algorithms and data structure analysis, and hardware design and innovation at Sci-Tech. Daisy felt like she would die just looking at Skye’s coursework and knew she probably would if she saw her textbooks, but Skye was just glad she would be putting her knowledge to good use.

Daisy stared into nothing. She and Skye had finished packing a while ago and the room was a little too blank. Technically, since they only stayed in that apartment for the past 2 months, it was always pretty blank, except for the posters around the walls and some fairy lights. Now they had placed every poster in folders and the lights in bags, which made it even worse. Daisy was then taken out of her thoughts when she was hit in the face by a pillow, making her jump in surprise and glare at Skye. “Nic ci nie jest? (Are you ok?)” Skye asked her in Polish. She had been trying to gain her sister’s attention, but apparently calling out her name didn’t work, so she guessed a pillow might, and it did.

“Tak, będzie dobrze. Po prostu zdenerwowany. (Yeah, I'll be fine. Just nervous.)” Daisy said, smiling softly at her sister.

“To normalne. Ja też się denerwuję. (That's normal. I'm nervous, too.)” Skye told her, going to her twin’s bed and hugging her. They stayed like that for 15 minutes, and Skye looked at her phone when they separated, noticing that the clock wrote 20:00. That was when a knock came at the closed door to their room.

“Hey Piàoliang de, (beautiful ones)” May said, as she half entered the room.

“Hey Māmā,” the girls spoke at the same time.

“Your dad and I are going to watch a movie; do you want to join us?” May asked, smiling at her two beautiful daughters.

“Sure,” Skye said.

“Ok,” Daisy added at the same time. Skye and Daisy then followed their mother to the living room and sat in the middle of their parents like a family sandwich. They ended up watching the second Star Wars movie, the twins falling asleep before the end, so their parents had to carry them back to their room, kissing them both on the forehead before leaving them to sleep peacefully on their own.

“Do you think we should have fought for them to have a more normal life?” Coulson asked, as they entered their own room on the other end of the apartment.

“They are the kids of two SHIELD agents, I don’t think we were ever a part of the norm of regular families,” May told him, as they undid their bed.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Coulson nodded, getting into bed. They then kissed before flicking off the lights and going to sleep.

The next morning was hard, though with a little push, Daisy and Skye managed to have their father stop looking at them like they were going to leave forever. They thought it would be harder on them than on their parents, but clearly, they were wrong. Again, there was the obvious exchange of a $20 bill from Daisy to Skye; they had a bet going on if it was them or their parents who would crack first. Not even out the door and Coulson was already crying. “Bà, stop crying,” Skye groaned, using the Chinese translation of ‘dad’, since it was easier for them to sometimes incorporate other languages into an English conversation.

“Sorry, girls. Now, let’s go.” Coulson sniffled as he spoke. They all grabbed one suitcase and drove to the Hub, where a quinjet was waiting for them on the roof. May placed the suitcase on the side and went to the cockpit, since she was the one piloting them to the Academy with Coulson as her copilot. The twins placed all their luggage safely on the side and sat down next to one another, clicking in their seatbelts. They would both only be eligible to get their piloting license in 2 years, and they were already excited.

“Wheels up,” May announced, before lifting off the quinjet with ease. “ETA 30 minutes,” May added, before they were off into the sky and in the direction of the SHIELD Academy.

“Do you know who our next-door neighbors will be?” Skye asked her sister, opting to speak English for this, as it wasn’t that private of a conversation. They all had different rooms, which saddened the girls, who slept in the same room since they were babies. Though to be fair, it was never a big deal for them, since they never brought anyone over – boy in Daisy’s case or girl in Skye’s – as they didn’t stay long enough to make friends or even have one-night stands. Plus, their parents were very serious about that; they caught a fifteen-year-old Skye making out with a girl once in the corner of a coffee shop and the younger twin swore she saw fire coming out of her mother’s eyes as she glared at the girl next to her daughter. They agreed never to speak of it again as long as it was no longer going to happen with either parents nearby.

“No, we’ll find out when we get there, though,” Daisy said. They were told that they would be neighbors, but the other people were still a mystery to them.

For the rest of the flight, the girls continued to talk, until they landed a few clicks from the academy. “Let’s do this,” Skye said, sighing and taking a suitcase, and her sister nodded, taking another suitcase while their parents took the other two suitcases.

They walked to the Academy and entered, heading right to the front desk. “Names?” the secretary asked, not even looking up from her computer.

“Daisy Qiaolian May-Coulson,” Daisy said.

“Skylar Qiaolian May-Coulson,” Skye followed suit.

“You both sign on the dotted line of each document,” the woman said, handing them each a pile of papers to sign. 

They are technically adults, though they were still not old enough to drink, they were able to sign legal documents themselves. Being at a SHIELD facility with probable hidden dangers all over, they needed to write down someone to contact in any case of injury or other things, so Daisy wrote down her mother as her emergency contact, as did Skye. They both agreed their mother was more fit to make decisions in the face of a crisis than their father, being an Ops specialist who had to make the tough calls on a regular basis. Well, that was before Bahrain happened, last year, now she worked in admin, where they did the red tape. 

“Your room is in section Echo, number 38,” she told Daisy, giving her her badge. “Your room is in section Echo as well, number 36, right next door,” she told Skye, giving her her own badge. “Those badges will grant you access to your own room and anywhere else in the buildings, including the elevators, the cafeteria in the dorm building and the gyms in the Ops building. Certain rooms have restricted access, meaning you won’t be able to enter them unless you are cleared. You will find your time tables, textbooks, SHIELD computers for classes and signature SHIELD hoodie with your name on it in your rooms. Your name will be written on the right side of your dorm room. Also, your combat level assessments are tomorrow morning with the other new Ops kids, before classes start the next day,” the woman added, before nodding to them to leave. 

The twins exchanged a glance before following their parents to the elevators, and they clicked on level 3, which had sections Echo through Hotel. They quickly found a door with the word ECHO on it, which prompted them to enter. There was a nice common area as they got in, with a living room and a TV, though there were still no students there. Then they saw the corridors of rooms leading to the common area. At least there were signs, telling them that corridor 4 had rooms 31 to 40, so they followed there. The family quickly spotted their rooms, reading the names S. May-Coulson on room 36 and D. May-Coulson on room 38. In front of their rooms were 37 – belonging to a J. Simmons – and 39 – belonging to a K. Bishop. It was still unknown if their two front-door neighbors had yet to arrive, but they weren’t that eager to find out, wanting to get in and unpack before meeting anyone new. They also found that there was a bathroom at the end of the hall of each corridor.

“Do you girls want us to stay or…” Coulson asked, as the two girls scanned their badges to enter their rooms, leaving the doors open.

“We’ll be fine,” Daisy said, after a moment of silent consultation with her sister.

“You guys can go,” Skye added, taking her suitcase from her mother, while her sister did the same with the suitcase in her father’s hands. Both parents sighed, hugging each twin.

“You know that if you need anything, you can call either of us. Whatever time it is, wherever we are,” Coulson told them and they nodded.

“Don’t cause any trouble for your professors, or we’ll know,” May added.

“No promises,” Daisy muttered under her breath.

“We’ll miss you,” Coulson said, tearing up again.

“You know you can come whenever you want. We’re at a SHIELD facility, now,” Skye told them, and they nodded.

“We’ll try to visit whenever we can,” May promised, giving one last hug to her daughters. They all said their goodbyes before May and Coulson left and the two girls retreated to their rooms to unpack, though they did still leave their doors open.

Skye was almost done unpacking the first suitcase, determining where to place her posters on the wall, when she first saw her. The brunette beauty had knocked on her open door as she unpacked, making Skye turn to look at her for the first time. She was beautiful, a nice smile and kind eyes painting her face and her long brown hair was neatly attached in a pony-tail. “Hi, I’m… I’m Doctor Jemma Simmons, my… uh… dorm is right in front of yours?” the girl asked in a British accent, slightly pulling Skye from her gay panic. The British beauty was wearing a cute little blue blouse with a brown vest over it and high-jeans with a brown belt and white converse.

“I’m uh… I’m Skylar May-Coulson, PhD, but… but everyone calls me Skye,” Skye said, rambling slightly. Why was she so awkward… this never happened to her when she met new people…