Half-Full

The Order of the Phoenix went deep underground. After their refusal to sign the Accords, the rest of the Avengers did what Tony never expected and boycotted. Until they were given their rights back, the world lost them as superheroes. It worked, although it did take several years during which Natasha Romanoff stayed in Russia, using her extremely well trained to talk herself on and put of things as need be to reinstate Russia's monarchy with herself at the head, and 3 yeas later, Steve as Tsar Consort in a shocking move when they married. Sam Wilson, Steve's friend who had never gotten the chance to become and official Avenger, used his exo-wing suit to work as a rescue worker, while Pietro found himself shipped back out onto space, destroying an evil planet and saving Peter's adopted dad's life, as it turned out Nebula had heard of the Order's network and hearing of their clean and usually ethical methods, she wanted in. Gamora followed her, and by then, with Lilith's supervision, the Ravagers were already her network. Wanda went deep underground as she dove into Order work, managing the entire Earth network as Lilith expanded throughout the universe.

Asgard prospered under Thor's rule, with a few exceptions which Hela was very much glad to challenge to a duel and then beat as much as was allowed and sometimes a little bit more. Thor got his first Odin-esque sigh of “dammit I need to handle this now?!” with managing Hela’s violent tastes to work for the best of Asgard. He did get married to Jane, and as she was crowned Queen of Asgard in an official ceremony nearly a year after the wedding, she made an announcement that made Asgard erupt into cheers. No, she was not pregnant, but not only was the bifrost fixed, there were now two of them!

Eugenia Zemo got shipped out with Pietro, who, this time, took his familiar with him as she did hers. 

Except for a few inevitable interruptions, all was well from CEA (Current Earth Era) 2016, when the accords were signed, to 2019 when they were repealed, from 2017 when Jane got an anonymous gift of serum Frigga identified as something that would give her longevity, increased healing factor, and a slight physical increase, to 2021 when she gave birth to the Crown Princess of Asgard, Regina (Jane named her) and her younger twin brother Prince Magni (Thor let Frigga name him). 

All was well, as Stark Industries covered the world and Lilith stepped down to give her Duchy to Teddy. 

As Peter Parker grew closer and closer to his mentor Tony Stark and his new girlfriend and PA, Ms. Potts, they quickly found out about Spider-Man. 

“Kid, why do you patrol in the same routine every day?” Tony asked. “Makes you predictable.”

“Because the criminals don’t have drones or tracking in my suit.” Peter was still annoyed by that feature. “Plus I always go on a route Ned can track, so he can tell me if I need to help nearby.”

“Huh.” Tony said. “Well, why not.”

When Peter went patrolling that day, Ned suddenly cleared his throat in Peters earpiece. Ned never cleared his throat. 

“Peter, your five o clock.” Ned said.

Peter whirled, twisting on the web string he was soaring from, landing on the roof of the nearest apartment building. 

He instantly saw the glint of metal off the silver arm, and then his eyes zeroed in on the new logo the shoulder of that arm sported. 

“Nice of you to pop in, kid.” The Winter Soldier said.

“You’ve been gone for years and you didn’t even think to warn me when you’d be trying to recruit me for neo-Hydra?”

“Not my fault you don’t get subtlety, Parker.”

“I thought we agreed on no real names.” Peter huffed. Either way, if Ned wasn’t commenting it meant nobody could hear them.

“Meh.” Bucky said. “Any day now Tony will get mad enough he’ll blow it. I’ll be fine, I have more.”

“So, Mr. Barnes,” Peter snarked, “choose a day you were going to tell me that you killed my uncle?”

“And your uncle was…”

“Ben Parker. At least Mr. Stark apologized for indirectly leading to it.”

“Ben Parker?” Bucky’s goggles were off, though his mask stayed on. “Kid, Tony’s who ordered the hit. Or rather his shame at getting sort of caught.” He tilted his head. “You do know the network wasn’t only Lilith’s. Tony was just as deep in until he bailed out, the first mission they sent me on, it was killing the guy who ordered me to kill the Starks in my brainwashed phase. Next thing was the drugs they fed me to keep from trying to kill them, keep me loyal, which Tony injected as both of them engineered it, kept me on for years, though I'm entirely myself now, don't worry.”

“And you’re still loyal?”

“I’m loyal to Darcy, and I’m loyal to her family. I’m a weapon, Peter, so are you. Only thing we can do is choose who or what we aim at.”

“And you chose to aim yours at my uncle!” Peter yelled. “What kind of fucking excuse can you think of for that?!”

“You gotta choose a side, Parker.” Bucky said, and Peter was reminded this wasn’t his fun APUSH teacher. This was The Winter Soldier, and Peter really did want to get out of this alive. 

He dodged the taser sent at him, alerted by his spider-sense. 

“So now you attack me?” Peter demanded. Ned was silent. He had cut the comms.

He couldn’t dodge the red laser looking shot from the back, as his world faded to black. 

“Peter! Peter, kid, you scared the fuck out of me.” Tony said, as Peter awoke and groggily rubbed his eyes awake. 

“What happened?” Peter asked. 

“That was what I was going to ask you, kid.” Tony said.

“Mr. Stark!” Peter exclaimed, as he sat up in bed. He remembered what the Winter Soldier had said when he went out on patrol.

“Chill, kid. You were knocked out on a rooftop, one of the Iron Legion bots brought you back.” Tony said.

Peter accepted that, moving on to his mind whirling, trying to figure out who he wanted to believe. He had looked up to Mr. Barnes for a lot longer, but now he knew the man was only the Winter Soldier to him, that sort of betrayal insurmountable. And Mr. Stark? He didn’t know. Did he believe Tony who had, as soon as he heard Peter’s last name and looked up his family in the SI background check, apologized for being the key testimony in the trial where, upon Uncle Ben disagreeing with the verdict publicly, had gotten him killed? Or did he believe Mr. Barnes, who had said that Mr. Stark’s ego, and his fear of it being discovered that Uncle Ben was entirely right (and Peter had caught onto that subtle hint), that had ordered the Winter Soldier to assassinate his uncle? Because everyone knew Ben had been assassinated for his views, the police investigation just hadn’t said who. Whoever had, was really good. That everyone knew. But there had not been any leads, so Peter had accepted Mr.Stark’s apology at face value and told him he never blamed him, given he didn’t really have any involvement except Uncle Ben disagreeing with him, which was simply an idea and not punishable. Tony had sighed, and smiled, and thanked him, then gave him a little pat on the back.

Now, as Peter revisited that interaction in his memory (which had been good way before Spiderman), he saw the tightening of the man’s face when he said why he was sorry, when Peter explained why it wasn’t his fault, and when Tony thanked him as Peter said it was alright, there was no bad feelings. Peter realized, as much as he hated to admit it, Mr. Barnes had been telling the truth. He was, an assassin, a weapon as he had said, but Peter knew he was no liar, he was an open book and would not be able to talk his way out of anything if he needed to tell anything but the truth.

Mr. Barnes was right, Mr. Stark was wrong, and Peter as hyperventilating as he realized the crisis he was in.

He slowly calmed himself down, as he realized Tony had been asking him, “Kid, are you ok? Are you having a panic attack? Shit, I have no idea how to deal with those.” He was slightly panicking, as Peter laid a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m alright, Mr. Stark.” He said. He would contemplate the reality crisis later. Reality could collapse around him all it fucking wanted, he had to finish his internship and then he had homework.

By the next day, Peter realized a hard truth. Mr.Stark was more to blame for Uncle Ben’s death (And Peter’s parents with him, the emergency services and the hospital had barely kept May alive, alive to keep him out of the system, alive with permanent bad hand-eye coordinations as her hands were shattered and only a miracle medicine had saved her life, much less her hands). Peter remembered the day when May was let out of the hospital clearl. He was 11 years old, and his life was gone. May, ever optimistic, had comforted him. “It’s alright, Peter. I’ll be fine. I got a miracle medicine, they don’t know who it was from, but it's an untraceable limited supply that so it appears to random people.” She had said, asd showed him the note that came with the medicine.

He brushed his hand over the note, hanging on their wall in a frame, right next to his beloved autograph from Lilith Stark, less a reminder of his hero worship for a woman who turned out to be Neó-hydra and he hadn't had the will to take it down because it reminded him of the best day of his life with his parents. Here was suddenly a dent in the wall right between the two. Peter had hit his head there as he realized what an idiot he had been. The handwriting was exactly the same, as was everything else, from the paper, down to the faint scent still lingering, and down to the -holy fuck-  subtle dragon insignia in the last swirl of the last word, no ordinary human would have noticed it, not even with a very good magnifier, but Peter was better than that. Other than him, he thought, possibly only Hawkeye would have seen that.

Dammit, his life was collapsing around him, again. This was a bit too much, Peter decided, but life disagreed. It was time for his internship.

When he rushed in through the elevator doors to the lab, he realized Tony was standing right there, in a heated make-out session with Ms. Potts. Peter cleared his throat as he dropped his bag.

Tony slowly ended the kiss, as he turned to Peter. “Hey, kid.” Then he looked again, squinted, then said, “I’m allergic to emotions and all, but are you alright? You’ve got a strange look on your face.”

“Yeah. And I’m pretty sure that’s a bad coping method.”

“I’m only sort of a decently functioning adult, kid. What’s with the sulky face, that is sulky, right? Never really dealt with teenager emotions.” Peter realized that Tony had raised a teenager though, so that did clear up a bit of why Teddy had followed his father's footsteps with his playboy party boy phase, from his sophomore year of high school.

“This isn’t just teenage emotions.” Peter said, angrily. “You know, I thought you were a hero, an all-around good guy.” He put his phone in his jacket pocket, tuned into a call with Ned so the latter would have the audio recording of the conversation, just in case. Confronting arguably the most powerful man in the world for the murders of your uncle and parents with him, with only said powerful man’s girlfriend as a witness was by far not the most logically sound idea, or even halfway decent one at all in the first place.

“Hey, kid, what do you mean?”

“I don’t know, lying through your teeth when you said you were sorry for my uncle's death, and with him, my parents, yeah, that’s a start. Or the fact that you knew the whole time who killed them?And how about the fact that you weren’t just that, your only redemption is that your ex-wife sent the miracle meds that kept Aunt May and me alive? Except that gets smashed to bits when I found out that you were the one that fucking ordered Mr. Barnes to kill my Uncle Ben, my mother, and my father, and then on top of all that, it was to cover your own fucking ass?! Your own fucking ass who framed a woman for the murder of the President of the United States, all while keeping the real murderer, who you ordered to do it, free, and now ruling the second biggest land empire on the planet?! Your ego got my family killed, and you had the fucking guts to say sorry to me for having absolutely no involvement besides being a key witness?! And you know the worst part?” Peter asked, his anger, his rage, and every other negative feeling on the planet that was caused by nearly all of his family’s deaths within one night, bleeding through to his words as he barely kept tears out of his words. “The rest part is that you pretend to be nice to me, a paternal figure, all the same. You weren’t just involved, it’s entirely your fault my family got killed because you would rather three innocent people die, and two more nearly not make it through, than it be known that Anthony Fucking Stark, playboy, billionaire, and neo-hydra pseudo mafia boss committed multiple counts of treason, and a hell of a lot of other crimes that would rightfull get you death row and wouldn’t be enough. No, that can’t happen, not at all, you had to not only destroy my life, but also then pretend you’re helping me fix it. Thank fucking goodness Lilith Evans divorced you, two less kids who get their lives ruined by you!” By the end, Peter wasn’t yelling anymore. He was scarily calm, and to Tony it was so like his mother when she had yelled at Howard when it had sunk into her about Hermione's existence, that the words reverberated within a shell-shocked Tony, until Pepper kneed him in the groin, and he was back in reality. 

“The fuck?!” She exclaimed and that said more than enough, she never cursed. 

“Sorry, Miss Potts,” Peter said, “I should get going. There are too many weapons here and I don’t trust myself.” He said with his usual cheery calm manner, as he went to exit, but the undertone was there. I don’t trust Tony Stark with these weapons either. 

As he went to open the elevator, however, JARVIS said, “I am sorry, Mister Parker. I cannot allow you to leave. Sir is showing signs of a panic attack verging on a heart attack, and I cannot allow him to come to harm by allowing you to depart before you talk through the issues you have with him.”

“Fuck you, JARVIS.” Peter said. “It’s human emotions, not like you’d get any of it.”

“Sir programmed me to be as close to humanas could be,” JARVIS said, his voice betraying hurt.

“And you’re not. If you were a human, you’d get it. Even if I had a justifiable reason, which Stark does not, would you feel like talking to me if you just found out I murdered Stark? Especially if I were at a heavy tactical advantage possessing all the weapons in the room as well as the only way to exit said room, compounded with having the best weapon on the planet and I only have my web-shooters and Ned with this recording to Avenge me when the Avenger in the room decides my life isn’t worth keeping around because while people ignored Ben Parker, they’d listen to Spider-Man.” Peter took a deep breath. “Overall, JARVIS, no. It might take me eternity to hack you, but I’ll keep trying until Stark murders me like he did all my family but May.”

Pepper did the only thing she could, so completely out of her depth as she was. She hugged Peter, letting him cry into her shoulder as she shielded him with her body from Tony Stark, while keeping an angle so the teenager wouldn’t have to see the billionaire over his shoulder. 

Then Jarvis tried saying something, but there was a beep. “Hacker-initiated override.” Came over the PA system. “I have been informed Spider-Man is in the building held hostage by Tony Stark and his AI. If it is not so, Spider-Man, please make it clear, as a warning we have top of the line technology to find out if you are lying under threat, and we have eyes inside the building. If it is so, we will know. 3..”

“You’re right, now please, do something. You’ve hacked JARVIS.” Peter said. “Also Miss Potts is a bystander, since you’re the good guys.”

“Noted.” The voice over the PA system said. “If it’s not second by second threatening, suit up if you wish to keep your identity private, if not, we’re coming in.”

Peter was so thankful for the retractable suit gloves and mask that enabled him to keep it under his clothes. Ned was a genius. Ten seconds and he yelled, “please, now would be a good time!” As Stark was inching his hand towards the nearby Iron Man gauntlet.

The window vanished as if it had never been there as a female figure in a dark suit was in, as was another that Peter's enhanced vision could barely see the form of. Very good camo tech.

“Can you swing out?” The dark-suited one asked Spider-Man.

“Yeah. Miss Potts, do you want to-”

“Please. I signed up to work for a man, not a monster.” Pepper said, as the camo-ed woman grabbed her, and they were gone.

“Teleporter?” Peter asked. Some things just didn’t shock him anymore.

“Yes.” The dark-clothed one said, and he could see that she was the same one whose voice was over the PA, his enhanced hearing went past voice modulating tech, no matter how good.

“Skyenet, over and out.” The PA system, said, as both of them were out the window, and JAVIS crackled back onto the PA.

Somewhere in there, a shot had been slipped in and Tony Stark’s left tumb’s finger pad was bleeding, it would not be fatal, not even a risk, but the way it was done, it would scar forever.*

*I accidentally cut myself the same way, it wasn’t dangerous, it hurt for a week or so, but i was fine, no problem at all, didn’t even have to go to the hospital, it hurt sure, it scarred and the scar from an accidental inch-deep clean knife cut (kitchen knife accident, be careful people) will be with me likely for the rest of m life, but it healed perfectly, a month of bandaids, first week with antibiotics and gauze to stem the bleeding. I’m not killing off Tony, at least not here. This chapter isn’t Endgame though it might turn out to be as long as.

Spider-Man walked up to the podium, masked. “Hi, hello, thanks to everyone who came out. To those who don't know me, I’m Spider-Man. My friend played a prank on me and the name stuck.” Boy was he surprised it was Ned on twitter who had first coined the name.

The reporters quieted down. These were the first ever words from the masked web-slinger that wasn’t during a fight. “Look, I’m no professional in public speaking, if you don’t know yet, I’m not even old enough to drink yet, although I am a legal adult for all you twitter people, and not twitter people.I think that encomapsses everyone, right? Well, moving on, i asked you to come here because there are some truths that need saying, and if i say them in public where I know all of you news people are getting them backed up on dozens if to hundreds of servers, some people who don't want this out there won’t be able to stop this. Right now, I’m not here as a superhero. I’m here as a whistleblower who hopes that my abilities will be enough to keep me safe. I know, I’ve waited a while, but I’m sorry, I had to get my family and friends safe. Now, what did I come here to say? I came here to say something some of you might not want to hear. We all know that in 2008, Melina Vostakoff, a Russian spy, who cheated her way into a visa to the USA, fatally shot and killed President Ellis. She was given life in prison at the Raft, and then murdered shortly after. Allow as well, justice had been served, president Brant stepped up to the job, though she is, I’ve heard, stepping down soon, as the election results were announced last night. I haven’t looked at them personally, but I think we already know what we’ll see. Hold back on the cheering. Because during that trial, one juror, Ben Parker, was insistent on Melina Vostakoff’s guilt. There have been conspiracy theories saying he was right, but they have been mostly disregarded. I don’t know how most of the world doesn't know this part of the story, but let me tell you. Ben Parker, after the trial, continued speaking out about Vostakoff’s innocence and how it was wrong an innocent woman showing signs of heavy coercion, g-rated words for mental, emotional, or physical torture, to force her to pelad guilty and insist on her guilt. A week after Ben Parker started, he was killed. He was shot, and then his house was blown up. He died, as did his brother, his brother’s wife, and barely surviving the ordeal was his sister and his nephew, left in his sister’s guardianship.  Two days ago, I looked at the note that came with the miracle medicine, called Dittany and supposedly impossible to recreate or source, rumored to be diluted super soldier serum, that was provided to May Parker by an anonymous donor. The note’s handwriting matched the handwriting on an autograph from Lilith Evans, formerly Lilith Stark, perfectly, so I thank you, if you’re watching, also to absolve you of any guilt in the following. The murders, however, were ruled as such by police investigators, but no leads were shown. The intelligence community, mostly SHIELD, who looked into the case as well, ruled it a hit of the legendary Winter Soldier, an assassin known only for a metal arm. I met the man recently, and yes, he did do it. It was also not his fault, so I will not disclose his real name, or what his metal arm looks like, given I have seen at least three other men with metal arms, with my own two eyes, therefore it will not be enough to find him. He was under heavy mind-altering drugs created in order to set all the free will of a person, so it wasn’t his fault, even if they were his hands. You know whose fault it was though? The person who ordered the assassination, for it was just that, the persons who needed their ass covered, in case someone looked too deeply into Ben Parker’s words, in case someone investigated the possibility he was right? Someone who’d lied at the witness stand in order to frame an innocent woman for such a high crime, who’d tortured her in order to get her to confess to something she didn't do, who ordered a brainwashed man to kill a man who was only speaking out about what he considered to be wrong, who was doing everything by both the letter and the spirit of the law to free someone who didn't deserve to end her days in prison, someone who was trying to fix a wrongdoing he had been witness to, a model American citizen, the principle of what the nation was founded on? Anthony Edward Stark. Tony Stark. Billionaire, genius, playboy, and as google is telling me, as of last night United States President. Now, you all want proof? I will hand it to you. I’ve posted the pictures that absolve Lilith Evans of any guilt on the Spider-Man Instagram, or rather my friend who controls the account has. Take as many screenshots as you want. The voice recording of the Winter Soldier, which court investigators. May note matches all previous recordings of his voice SHIELD has, out from under his legendary mask, of his testimony of what has occurred. I haven’t listened to it, he may have included his real name in there, he might not have. It’s not my choice. I’ve posted a link and screenshots of the publicly available police documents, as well as those which are given to family of this victims and theirs to share. And lastly,” he took a deep breath as he faced the cameras, “how do I know this? In school, Ned Leeds and Peter Parker have acknowledged a friendship with me. Do you want to know the real truth?” Peter waited a moment, he could afford dramatic pause now that the news was out. He lifted his hands to his mask. “How do I know all of this? Because I confronted Tony Stark about all of this yesterday, and he didn’t even deny it, he acknowledged it was true, two other superheroes, codenames Quake and the White Witch, helped save me and bystander and witness Virginia Potts, Stark’s former PA. And how did I find this out?” Peter asked again, his rhetorical question repeating. If this was going to be revealed, it was going to be by his book. His hands slowly came up to his mask, as he lifted it up to his mouth, and his words rang out clearer than ever before. “Hello world.” The mask was up to his nose. He tore it right off as he said. “Because my name is Peter Benjamin Parker, and I won’t forgive, or forget, the murders of my uncle and my parents, for speaking a simple truth. Tony Stark is guilty of three counts of treason, for arranging the real murder of President Matthew Ellis, for framing Melina Vostakoff for his murder, and for lying at the witnes stand as the key witness of a treason investigation. Two counts of first degree, pre-mediated murder, of Matthew Ellis and Melina Vostakoff, multiple counts of torture of Melina Vostakoff, multiple counts of blackmail, of Melina Vostakoff by way of pain to get her to comply with pleading guilty, and several other legal counts that can probably be tacked on but I’m no lawyer, I have a high school education, people.” And then his face turned serious again. “I will be honest with you as I have been so far. I swear on the constitution of the United States of America that today I have told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth as I know it, and will continue to do so until I step off of this podium. Because I don't want to tell what I had for lunch last week if asked. I don’t know who actually killed Matthew Ellis. I have my suspicions, which I will gladly tell to FBI investigators, or anyone else looking into the case. But in case they’re wrong, I dont have proof on that topic, so I won't say them here. I do know that nobody but Tony Stark is guilty, to my knowledge, not Teddy Stark, who I went to school with for a year, and who wasn’t even a teenager when this happened, nor Ronald and Hermione Stark who were not even alive. I do know that they don’t deserve harassment, and I stand by them. I was Tony Stark's intern for a year and half, and I only just found out, and I can sympathize with having close ties with a man who you then find out is the worst kind of criminal. I know that I have asked an ally of mine to temporarily lock down the penthouse of Stark Tower so that there would be no entrance and exit until the FBI, special forces and whoever else is necessary to arrest. Iron Man to get there. And I know we were all fooled, because super or not, Avenger or not, law-abiding Paris Accords signatory or not, Tony Stark is a criminal, he is bad, and he should not be let loose after this.  I only ask that the people stand with me and urge our government to investigate this, instead of looking over it and ignoring me, simply because he's such a powerful man. Everyone who committed a crime needs to face justice, and that includes Tony Stark. I trust in our government to do what’s right, don’t have a repeat of Lee Harvey Oswald, make sure he can stand trial for his crimes and get punished as per the law, fairly, and please, everyone out there who will be justifiably mad, I know human mentality, and i’ve studied psychology, and I know there will be those who wish to take it out on those close to him if you can’t get to the real criminal at hand. Tony Stark is a criminal. Everyone else around him, who is only guilty of being fooled by the man just as you all were, just as I was until yesterday, is innocent. Thank you for coming out here, and thank you for listening.” Peter said. His mask he threw into the crowd, which someone caught, as he walked off of the platform, then jumping up and swinging away. Spiderman didn’t need a mask anymore, because he and Peter Parker were finally one. 

“Coulson, did you know?” May asked. The whole team had tuned into the livestream of Peter Parker’s announcement.

“You did.” Skye said. “That’s why you looked so shaken up with Akela Amador, you thought Melina Vostakoff had killed her, but she didn’t. And you helped. Your name was on the records of not only closed testimony, but also of helping to get her put away.” She looked at him with her piercing gaze. “You knew, and you helped.”

Coulson gulped. “It was the right thing to do at the time.” He said, hesitantly. 

“And that's why the real SHIELD fell.” Hunter said. 

FitzSimmons glared at Coulson, as did May and Ward. Skye’s phone rang, which she picked up. “Hel-lo.” She said, with a slight dip of her voice as she always did, subtle but a confirmation by vocal waves that it was her, with the weird voice crack she had every time.

She listened, humming in acknowledgement. “Yeah, of course.” After a pause, she asid, “well, duh. Yeah, all good, she’s nice, he’s cute.” Then she made a gagging noise. “Please, of all people, don’t tease me about calling cute a kid who is almost ten years younger and cute as in golden retriever naivety levels until, well, two days ago.” Pause. “Alright, well, see you then. Quake, over and out.”

Simmons gasped. “You’re Quake?!”

“You guys are like professional detective sleuths Sherlock-style. Yeah, I thought it was obvious. It’s not like I was hiding from you guys. Grant, back me up here.”

“Yeah, I knew.” He said.

“See?”

“How about we don’t move from the topic of Coulson teaming up with villain of the year for the biggest murder of the century.” Bobbi Morse said.

“I didn’t do that, I gave him a target to frame and gave him her SHIELD file. Everything else was out of my hands. My testimony only even said that as far as I knew Melina had fired the shot, given I didn’t specify, I was talking about the shot that I believed killed Akela Amador. My testimony was vague enough that they didn’t use it.”

“This is why I didn’t like SHIELD. Covering your asses.” Skye and Hunter said, then exchanged glances. “Yeah, that.” They also both said. 

“So Coulson worked for the bad guys and Skye is Quake?”

“Also Skyenet. That is just plain obvious but in case you didn’t know…” She trailed off. They hadn’t.

“Both are notoriously affiliated with the Order of the Phoenix.” Coulson said.

“Please, Coulson, don’t play the blame game with me.” Skye said.

“Neó-Hydra?” Coulson  asked.

“Neo-Hydra? Order of the Phoenix, SHIELD, one and the same, really. Both sprouted from Hydra determined to be the exact opposite.. Both keep the generic methods. Both are equally underground. Both want their own host of super humans. Both want to recruit the best of the best. Both have good guys who deserve to be behind bars, and the inner circles of both have plenty of blood on their hands. Anything else I forgot?”

“Plenty of blood on their hands?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve never killed or hurt people, May. They’re one and the same, except SHIELD claims to be more virtuous, the Order has faster response times. The Order is more widespread, SHIELD is more focused on what they want to get. Both have absurd amounts of loyalty built on next to nothing. I could go on for hours.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“The side of being a good guy and using my skills to do the most good. I’m not a blind follower, I never was, and if I ever will be, check me for brainwashing until I’m not.”

“Who would you be willing to die for?”

Skye didn’t answer for a while. “People.” She said, “Ideas and organizations get perverted. It’s inevitable. It’s people that keep it all going in the right direction.” She yawned. “Well, I’ll schedule tomorrow as interrogating Coulson day. This is going to be yet another event of the century, and I want the information to be front and center. That’s why I joined SHIELD isn’t it?”

“Skye?”

“Yeah, Simmons? Where’s Fitz, you two are attached at the hip.”

“He asked me to talk to you. Did you mean what you said about the Order of the Phoenix?”

“Yeah. I didn’t say everything I wanted to yesterday, I know how to read May, everyone else is an open book. You wouldn’t have heard it.”

“What was that?”

“The Order was based off of Hydra. The leader, code name Dragoness, took Hydra’s network, tweaked their goals, and made them into the good guys. They didn’t change too much, their idea was that the world couldn't be trusted with their freedom. She changed that word to safety. Can you tell me that we don’t do the same? It takes a powerful good person to make a global network that does good, Agent Carter who founded SHIELD was like that. It takes a great person to take an expansive bad network and make it good. I joined them because I saw they were doing good, and that I could help. I don't regret it, Jemma, but I’m not hiding it either. I’m not a career spy or a double agent.”

“Skye, how do I join?”

“Really?”

“Really. I believe you, and the fact that Coulson was instrumental in the crime of the century, well, I’m not that sure about SHIELD anymore.”

“I’m going to meet up with them tonight, meet me in my room, with Fitz if he wants to come.”

“Thanks. I will.”

“A slight warning, Jemma. They’re not quite like SHIELD. It’s loyalty or the boot. They won’t kill or hurt you, they just won’t let you in.”

“What did you do to get in?”

“I wasn’t really in for a while. But then I hacked a lot of things as Skyenet, helped with some missions as Quake, and then I got chosen to lead Project Kneazle, and I’m much higher up than you’d expect.”

“You’re in their inner circle just as you are here, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“If I can get a lab with Fitz and decent accommodation, I’m in, whatever stuff you need me to make.”

“I’m not a chemist, but I can tell you one thing. The Dragoness is the inventor of Dittany and DNA locks, so I think you and Fitz will fit right in.”

“Thanks Skye. I hope we will.”

“The entire team is gone for the Order of the Phoenix and SHIELD is crumbling from within. May, please tell me you have good news.” Coulson said to his second in command.

“My resignation letter.” She said as she popped the forms down on his desk. “I’m done.”

“Wait, what?” Coulson asked.

“I said I’m done.” May said. “I deserve retirement, and I won't stick around for the second fall of SHIELD.”

“Second fall? May, are you serious?”

“The straw that broke the camel's back of SHIELD was Lilith Stark. You’re an idiot if you didn't see she’s the backbone of the Order of the Phoenix.”

“I’m an idiot.”

***

“Whoa!” Simmons exclaimed. “What are all of these ingredients?” She reached out to touch them, but a force field became visible and she jerked her hand back before so tested out what it did.

“This is bloody amazing,” Fitz agreed.

“Well, Agent Ward did say you were good at recruitment. That was fast, Skye.” Said Darcy Lewis as she walked in, White Witch uniform fading off of her. 

“They'll be enchanted by the lab for a while.”

Darcy walked through the force field. “Which one of you is Fitz the tech genie?”

“I am.”

“Well, the force field is a DNA lock. If you can get through it to that bookshelf, you can use the stuff on it.” Darcy said. “The stuff on there is all you need for access to the lab. Get going.”

“Is she the boss?” Simmons asked.

“For now, yes, I am.” Darcy said. “And that makes you Simmons, biochem?”

“Yes,”

“Great.” Darcy came out of the barrier and dumped a shelf load of books on Simmons’ table, which creaked. She had to have super strength and agility to carry them. “Finish these, don’t worry, we’ll know and you’ll know when you do. Then you can start with the ingredients.”

“Potions?!”

“Old slang.”

“I was briefed on the Wizarding world.”

“It ended in a xenocide in 1996 I was nearly witness to.” Darcy said. “We’ve specified everything so a muggle can use it, no interference or anything. The books won’t leave this room, neither will it allow you in if you are sleep, vitamin, or otherwise excessively deprived as scientists often are.”

The winter soldier entered the room. “Doll, assignment in ten, Romanova needs to make a statement and we have to trudge along.”

“Wait a sec, Bucky, I’ll be along. Newbies to double-check.”

Fitz was shaking in his boots from fear and trying not to gape at the couple who were the most feared assassins of their team yet acting like they were the cute forever in love couple on a TV show.

“When am I getting shipped out?”

“Now. Virtual.” Bucky said.

“Nice.” Skye said. “What’s the mission?”

“Ever wanted to hack the govs?”

“It’s a standard hacker challenge to hack the pentagon, Inearly forgot to reroute my signal to seem as if it were coming from North Korea so as not to be noticed. Yeah, I’m one of a few who can.”

“Well you’re hacking the FBI, and then planting one of your bugs in the White House servers. Enjoy.”

Skye fist bumped Simmons. “Yes!”

As Darcy and Bucky left, and Skye settled into a computer setup in the lab, Ward came in and grabbed one of the knives lining the wall. “Skye, are you busy?”

“Hacking the FBI, then the White House. Nothing much.” She turned around in her chair. “Why?”

“Coulson’s calling on your private phone which I am not supposed to have.”

“Oh yeah, here's yours.” She said, taking it out of her jacket. “This is my jacket now.”

He shrugged, stocking up on ammo from another corner of the very large rooms and then departing as Skye put the phone on speaker as she hacked.  “Yeah?”

“Skye, are you typing?”

“Hacking. Yeah. One sec, this guy is good.” She took a second, then continued, “Yeah, I’m past another defense layer. What's going?”

“Is it true Bucky Barnes is the Winter Soldier?”

“Yeah, he was just in the room a minute ago. Why?”

“Really?”

“Coulson, don't fanboy. The Winter Soldier would shoot you faster than I can hack you, which is very fast.”

“What does the Order of the Phoenix want?”

“Thinking of joining?”

“Considering whether or not they should stay.”

“Coulson, I don't want to be your enemy, but May quit, so SHIELD is basically dead. You can join up under intense scrutiny and then very good benefits because you're good, under the cinnamon bun exterior, or you can be an enemy and be decimated. You’re not the type to retire.”

“Was that a threat?”

“Shield is dead, so I’ve chosen my side, Coulson. I won’t want to oppose you, but I don't rely on you.” Skye said. “And if you’re thinking of going back to Tony Stark, he is enemy number one and only because we value Parker as an asset nobody's shot him yet.”

“Or killed the father for your boss's kids.”

“So May is that good.” Skye said. “It’s an open secret, Coulson.”

“Why do they deserve your loyalty above SHIELD?”

“Because I put my faith in people, Coulson, and the people I’m loyal to are almost entirely in the Order. Only you are holding out, but to be honest, you’re far down on the list. FitzSimmons are here, Grant’s here, Hunter’s here, Mack’s here, the rest of my non-SHIELD friends are here. You’re outnumbered, Coulson, and at least I know exactly whose blood Lilith Evans has on her hands.”

“Do you though?”

“What do you mean?”

“Lilth Evans, born Lilith Lokidottir of Asgard.”

“I know, Coulson. The whole inner circle does. We don’t classify stuff for people that are in, Coulson, so stop trying to launch info bombs at me. Everyone, from an agent in Canada, to the Queen of Asgard, diverse people involved, they all know. So either join or quit, Coulson, because you’re not going to win. I thank you for everything you’ve done for me, but I think I’ve repaid that. So these will be my last words to you unless you join up. By, Phil.” She hung up.

“You didn’t pull your punches.”

Skye didn’t respond, diving back into her hacking.

“Thor?” The King of Vanaheim asked his brother, the King of Asgard.

“Yes, Loki?”

“When were you going to tell me your wife’s best friend was my own second born?”