Chapter 4
Skye immediately took a step backwards, causing her lower back to hit the edge of the counter, a jolt of fear running down her spine, suddenly eager to try and put as much distance between them as she could.
She looked for an escape route; there was the door but he was currently blocking that exit.
There was a window in the corner; smashing it and crawling out of it was actually an option she was considering taking…
“Hi.” he greeted.
She eyed him warily, “Hi.”
Despite the obvious tension in the air, he seemed perfectly at ease, his hands in his pockets, his chin tilted up slightly as he regarded her, “I heard what you said to Jemma.” he stated.
His tone instantly annoyed her; it was casual and unaffected. Like the topic of her conversation was as meaningless as the weather. And that eavesdropping wasn’t an invasion of privacy, but a completely normal act that anyone would freely admit to.
“Eavesdropping on me now?” she accused, her voice hard.
He took it in his stride, seeming unbothered by her anger, “What you said about your parents, learning something like that would destroy most people.” he told her simply, “but not you.” he continued, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth; as if he was proud of her, “That's why, after all that, you decided to come back; because Shield is your family.” he concluded.
“Yeah.” she shrugged, matching his casual tone; if he could pretend everything was fine, so would she, “Went out on a big adventure, only to end up right back where I started.”
“Well not exactly where you started; you're an agent now.” he clarified, ducking his head slightly as he looked at her, his eyes were warm, “Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” she said, a small smile of her own tugging at his lips, “I have a badge now but, they still call me a rookie.”
Her smile had nothing to do with his recognition of her hard work, but because he was making small talk. She knew that he hated small talk and the longer they spoke the more uncomfortable and annoyed he’d be.
She wondered if there was ever going to be a day when she wouldn’t enjoy annoying him… it was almost a reflex for her to do it; no matter the circumstances.
“And you have stopped saying ‘bang’ every time you shoot someone.” he added with a lopsided smile.
“For the most part, yeah.” she agreed.
It was strange to think of a time where she had been so inept as a student; when things weren’t so easy. He was her harsh S.O and she was his annoying rookie, incapable of taking anything seriously. But Hunter understood that and she was allowed to be playful and silly with him, as long as when things were serious, she took them seriously.
According to Hunter, that wasn’t very often. Which was her opinion as well.
Nothing about being a Shield Agent had come naturally to her; she’d had to work at it. She drilled things into herself over and over again not just until she could get it right, but until she couldn’t get it wrong.
There was one thing however that had come naturally to her, and that was her banter with Ward. Even now, after so much time had passed and so much had changed, it was easy for her to slip right back into that teasing tone that perminated their interactions.
He let loose a long breath through his nose as he began to study her, his gaze careful, but intense. His entire body tensed up, as if he was mentally preparing himself before he spoke again; “I think it's time we talked.”
And just like that, the easy nature between them evaporated and was replaced with a tension so tight, it was almost painful.
“I don’t think so.” she retorted immediately.
Her heart spluttered in her chest and she suddenly felt uncomfortably hot, as if the back of her neck was on fire; she began to feel nauseous.
Setting her jaw in determination, she ducked her head and tried to move past him, feeling her heart rate quicken as she did.
With lightning fast reflexes, he grabbed her arm just above the elbow as she tried to walk past him, “Skye, stop.” he whispered huskily, his voice low.
If she had thought her heart was beating fast and being so close to him when she was walking past, that was nothing compared to how it was exploding out of her chest, now that he was touching her.
She could feel the heat of his body next to her, smell his signature scent and feel his hot breath on the side of her face
“Let go of me Ward.” she told him coldly, refusing to meet his gaze as she looked at the floor.
“I can’t.” he breathed, a note of pleading in his voice.
She finally turned to look at him, she could see the hurt in his eyes, as if he was some kind of victim, that he was the one that had suffered, that he was the one to have lost everything…
She had never been so angry in her life. She’d never fully understood the term ‘seeing red’ as an expression of anger. But that was exactly how it felt, the edges of her vision taking on a strange red hue because of how angry she felt.
“Let. Me. Go.” she growled, punctuating each word by attempting to snatch her arm back and break his hold on her.
“I’ve tried.” he let out impatiently, the softness in his eyes a direct contradiction to his hard tone, “but I can’t.” he said, almost as if he was admitting some sort of weakness.
She pulled back to look at him, a frown of confusion was so deep, it was hurting her fac; what on earth did he mean by that?
Before she could open her mouth to ask him, or even study his expression for some sort of clue to explain the meaning behind his words, they were interrupted.
“Hey!” a deep voice interjected.
She jumped in fright at the sudden noise and looked up to see Mack standing in the kitchen.
He looked especially tall and menacing, his fists clenched at his sides as he glared at Ward, “is there a problem here?” he demanded.
Although he didn’t say it, his meaning was clear; let her go, or I will make you.
Ward obviously understood the subtext of his statement. He tilted his head slightly, looking incredibly frustrated and hostile, but also silently pleading for him, with his eyes, to not interfere. That there was no danger…
Biting his lip, he turned to glare at her before he released her arm, holding out his hand, showing very clearly that he had let her go.
She glared at him as she passed as he stood, frozen in place but practically vibrating with anger.
“You good?” Mack asked lowly as she approached him.
“Yeah.” she assured him.
He nodded and slung his arm over her shoulders, a casual looking gesture but she knew it was done to make her feel protected; like he was a physical barrier between herself and Ward and he wouldn’t be moving any time soon.
“I got ninety-nine problems but he isn’t one.” she told him, trying to release some of the heavy tension with humour as they walked out of the kitchen and down the hallway.
He glanced over his shoulder, seeming to check if they were alone before he spoke, “He has feelings for you.” he stated.
“No he doesn’t.” she scoffed, her entire body recoiled against the idea.
“No?” he queried, his voice light, “Why does he look like he wants to tear my head off every time I’m near you?” he challenged.
She rolled her eyes; “Well you haven’t exactly been very nice to him.”
“You sure?” he pressed on, “Because Hunter said he nearly punched him the other day too.”
“Well that would have been his mistake;” she told him, “Ward’s pretty dangerous.”
She considered the match up for that fight for a moment; Ward was the better fighter, very tactical and precise, yet that might be his downfall because Hunter was so unpredictable.
If Ward saw a hit coming, he would block against it or counter strike, precise and planned. Hunter was the type to get hit and then hit back, when his opponent had thought they had beaten him; he never had a plan.
“Oh and there it is!” Mack declared triumphantly, “You still have feelings for him too.” he accused.
“No I don’t Mack.” she huffed impatiently, already bored with the topic, “And he doesn’t have any feelings for me; he never has. So drop it.” she snapped, attempting to hide the pain in her voice with annoyance.
“Alright, I cross some boundaries, I get it.” he apologised, holding his hands up in mock surrender, “What can I do to make it up to you?” he offered.
“Want to be my sparring partner?” she asked, suddenly eager for an opportunity to have a physical outlet for her internal struggles.
“Only because I love you.” he said sweetly.
000
“I hate you.” he declared as he laid sprawled out on the matts, gasping for breath as he stared up at the ceiling.
The thing about fighting Mack was that he was big. Easily more powerful and with a longer reach than her. On more than one occasion, he had simply placed her hand on her forehead and held her back as she swung at him wildly; Hunter had taken pictures.
But the very things that were perceived as an advantage, were also a weakness. His muscled strength slowed him down, meaning she could dodge a lot of his strikes with time to spare. And once she got inside of his defensive reach, he had no room to move in order to hit her effective. That was when she would crowd him, unleashing a flurry of strikes before he would eventually crumble to the ground.
“I never tire of seeing a tiny girl knock you on your ass.” Hunter called from the sidelines.
“Why don’t you fight her then?” he grunted from the floor.
“Because I’m the teacher.” he said happily.
Standing over him, with a victorious smile, she offered him a hand to help him up. As he threw his hand into hers, she had to lean back into almost a sitting position to add enough of a counter weight to haul him off the ground.
She heard Fitz chuckle from his seat against the wall; it must have looked a little ridiculous to see someone so small, being a counter weight to someone who was easily twice her size.
“I need a new opponent.” she declared as Mack walked off to the kitchen to grab a drink.
Her adrenalin was pumping, so much so that she felt giddy; a euphoric high. A welcome change from the feeling of dread that had been hanging over her from the moment she saw Ward on the deck of the ship.
“Fitz?” she asked lightly.
“No. I do push ups now. Double digits.” he told her, not bothering to look up from his tablet, “Wouldn’t be fair to you.”
She couldn’t help but smile at his nonchalant tone and deadpan expression.
“Someone’s blood thirsty today.” Hunter commented as he threw her water bottle at her, “Whats up with that?”
“I’m frustrated.” she said simply as she took a large and grateful gulp of water.
“Sexually?” he posed, raising his eyebrows.
“In general.” she clarified.
“Well, everyone else is watching a movie. No one left for you to spar with love.” he shrugged.
“I’ll fight her.” a new voice declared.
She froze mid sip as she recognised that voice; she turned to see Melinda May as she walked into the training room.
She’d obviously been working out in the gym as she was wearing work-out clothes and had a light sheen of sweat that shone under the light. She was looking at her with single-minded determination as she walked towards her, seeming not to notice anyone else in the room as she pinned her with her gaze.
“Ah,” began Fitz nervously as he stood up, “I don’t think that's a good idea.” he said, glancing over at her fearfully.
She had thought the tension between her and May had gone unnoticed. Especially by the members of her team; they barely knew her and had no idea when she was being horrible, or just being herself.
Hunter looked between the two women, trying to analyze the situation; “It's sparring. Not fighting Agent May.” he qualified, noticing the loathsome glare she was directing at her, “Do you know the difference?”
“I’ve trained cadets at the academy.” she told him, finally turning her attention to him, “it might be beneficial for her to have a proper lesson.” she said, making a show of looking him up and down before turning away dismissively.
“Hey, I never went to the academy either, and I’m an agent.” he defended, sounding mildly annoyed, “It's not all it's cracked up to be.”
“So you're deliberately leaving holes in her training because you yourself don’t know them?” she posed, the condescension clear in her voice.
Now her S.O was definitely mad; for someone as laid back, and unaffected by pretty much anything, it took a lot to make him angry. Meaning when he showed even the slightest hint of anger, it had a big impact.
“I’m right here guys.” she interrupted as she swallowed a mouthful of water, the two of them were talking as if she wasn’t in the room.
They both ignored her.
Whilst the decision if they were to sparr was left to Hunter, he generally let her fight anyone she wanted; but those fights were never personal and it was very obvious that, to May at least, this was very personal.
“What are the terms?” he asked reluctantly.
“Finish by knock-out or tap; same as the academy.” she told him promptly.
“Little extreme, don't you think?” he scoffed, folding his arms across his chest defensively, “I don’t think anyone needs a concussion right now.”
“No one cares about giving you a concussion in the field.” she retorted, “If you coddle her too much, she’s never going to be prepared when she’s out in the field.”
May was ‘The Calvary’, known for her fighting prowess and by the fierce look on her face, she could understand why her S.O would be hesitant to let the two of them fight.
However she was the second person to question his methods in training her, and it was beginning to annoy her; she felt the need to defend his teaching as well as her own skills.
“Hunter, it's fine.” she assured him, placing her water bottle down on the matt.
He looked over at her, unconvinced; especially when a rather evil looking smirk that was tugging at May’s lips.
“We have a full house so if we get a mission and one of us is concussed, there are plenty of agents available to take our place.” she explained.
“Yes.” she agreed lightly, obviously pleased that the conversation was swinging in her favour, “I’m sure Bobbi would be happy to cover you.” she told her flatly; staring directly into her eyes, as if she had already won.
“Or Hunter could cover for you.” she fired back quickly, smiling smartly.
“Gladly.” he interjected, his voice hard as he stood glaring at her; it was clear he wanted to see her lose.
The two women glared at each other for a moment; her smiling sassily and May glowering murderously.
“She’s forgetting to mention that the students at the academy have padded vests with helmets.” interrupted a new voice.
All eyes in the room turned to watch Ward stride into the gym quite quickly, looking determined and angry.
“And no shoes.” he added as he reached the edge of the matts and very obviously looked down at May’s feet, bringing attention to the sneakers she was wearing.
“I’m sure Skye doesn’t need any of that.” she told him, her voice unnervingly sweet before she turned to look at her, “Right Skye?”
It was a trap.
Anyone in their right mind could see it was a trap; May wanted to hurt her. That much was obvious. But she still couldn’t fathom as to why.
She was cold, professional and definitely not emotional. Like Hunter, when he showed the slightest bit of anger, it was significant. But with her, it was almost doubly impactful because she was always so stone faced; seeing her happy did not bode well.
The odds were not on her side. She knew that. There was a very real danger that she would get hurt; especially if that was what May wanted.
But she couldn’t bring herself to say no. All the times she had criticised her, made her doubt herself, was hard on her… it all coiled in her stomach like an angry snake, ready to strike.
She glanced over at Ward; his expression was guarded, but she could see by his body language how anxious he was. He switched from glaring at one woman, silently threatening her to stop, to silently begging her to refuse.
Her mind was made up; “Right.” she agreed.
She watched as Ward winced, letting out a deep breath as he hung his head, looking defeated.
May stepped onto the matts as if she belonged there, prowling across the room like a cat stalking its prey as she grabbed a pair of gloves.
She focused on readjusting the straps on her own gloves, looking up through her lashes as she saw Fitz running across the hall into the lounge room, “Skye and May are sparring.” he declared.
What she saw then was a hilarious display of five grown adults stumbling and falling over each other in eagerness to get to the gym.
Tripp went so far as to launch himself over the couch, faltering slightly as he had to fight against the pillows, before he hurried over to join the rest of the group.
She immediately blocked out every other person in the room; how often did people get to physically confront their bullies?
If this was a movie, it would be some underdog, ‘David beats Goliath’ narrative. But as May came at her with a front kick, she blocked it with her hands, creating the perfect opportunity for her to grab her by the wrists, locking them together before she threw her onto the floor.
Using the downward motion, she was able to roll out of the throw and spring back up into a fighting stance once again.
“Keep your feet under you Skye; don’t get drawn in by that jiu jitsu shit.” Hunter called out to her.
Fighting May was similar to Mack in that she was strong, so she needed to avoid being hit. However she was around the same size as her, there would be no use trying to get past her guard as she was just as powerful in close combat than she was in a fighting stance.
But she didn’t have a lot of muscle like Mack, meaning it took her a lot more energy to have such devastating power hits. She could not use speed and strength for very long, she’d have to sacrifice one for the other eventually… and that was where her strategy began.
May tended to favour using kicks, probably due to her tae-kwan-do training, which had the most devastating kicks.
She would use those kicks to close the distance between her and her opponent so that she could then get close enough to put her in some sort of jiu jitsu lock or judo throw.
Instead of trying to block the kick, she simply ducked under it, moving to the side as she did in order to maintain the distance between them.
“Keeping your distance; looks to me like you're scared to get hit.” May huffed at her.
“No. Just being strategic and not underestimating my opponent;” she told her as she dodged another kick from her which resulted in her landing wrong and wincing in pain, “something I’ve seen you do.” she grinned down at her.
“So you’re perfectly aware that I can take you down with one hit?” she growled through gritted teeth as she spun around and took a fighting stance again.
“Not if you can’t land the hit.” she said simply, smiling happily.
May lunged at her, releasing a flurry of kicks and hits in such rapid succession her limbs were a blur. She was moving so fast that she stumbled over her own feet. Before she could lose her footing entirely, she rolled out of the way just as her opponent hit the ground; right where her head would have been if she had in fact fallen.
She heard a murmur go through their audience; even with the gloves on, everyone knew it must have hurt her to strike at the ground so heavily.
May grunted in pain, seeming breathless as she turned around to face her again, her eyes seething with rage, “You just gonna dodge all day?” she asked, clearly getting frustrated with her offensive strategy, “Think you have the stamina to do that?” she posed.
“Think you have the stamina to keep hitting nothing but air all day?” she threw back at her, a mischievous spark in her eye.
“Did she just call May a has been?” she heard someone say, it sounded like Bobbi.
“Guess we’ll find out.” she heard Tripp say.
In response May let loose an angry growl as she threw her body forward in an attempt to grab her; the move was sloppy and incredibly obvious that when she moved out of the way, she gave her shoulder the lightest of shoves and it sent her opponent sprawling to the ground.
It would have been the perfect time for her to counter attack, as she was vulnerable on the ground, but she didn’t, instead choosing to look down at her speculatively, “You seem angry May.” she commented.
She looked over her shoulder at her, spewing venom from her eyes.
“Maybe a little emotional?” she smirked, remembering the critique she had thrown at her so many times… it was the perfect moment for her to throw the same accusation at her.
“Being too emotional is your problem.” she growled as she looked up at her from the ground hatefully.
“Really?” she taunted as she looked down at her, “Doesn’t look like it from here.”
May lunged at her again and managed to strike her across the face, however she had sacrificed her secure footing in order to cover the distance from the ground to her head.
That was when she finally made her move, trapping her opponents arm as she tumbled to the floor, she swung her legs around, pinning her to the ground with her legs and pulling her arm in the opposite direction in a famous brazilian jiu jitsu move known as ‘the arm bar’.
She applied the slightest amount of pressure to show she had the arm locked and she heard May hiss against the pain.
Normally that would be when an opponent would tap at the mat, signalling the fight was over as they had been made to submit due to the threat of more pain or permanent injury.
But to her surprise, May continued to struggle, even attempting to grab at her ankles and unlock them as a way to escape the move, but it was futile. Infact, she was causing herself more pain by continuing to move in the opposite way in which her arm was designed to bend.
“Tap.” she told her, staring at the woman in disbelief; the fight was over, why was she still struggling?
She panted with exertion as she still tried to break herself free.
Skye stared down at her struggling form and was amazed at how a woman, who she had thought of as a legend, an undefeated warrior, was struggling so… pointlessly.
Could she not accept defeat? Or, could she not accept that the defeat came from her? Was she really so… petty?
As if to prove her point, she reached up and aimed a hammer fist at her knee, pounding on it mercilessly.
In response she twisted her arm a little more as pain shot through her leg, “Tap May!” she told her harshly, she was getting angry now as she kept striking at her knee, “Tap, or I’ll break your arm!” she threatened.
The strikes on her knee were becoming so weak and feeble, it was useless for her to keep struggling; the strikes were not even hurting her now.
Were she a better person, she would have just released her; she’d clearly won the fight.
But May’s voice echoed in her ear, all the hurtful words she had thrown at her; pathetic, emotional, unprofessional, a liability…
For the longest time she had felt as if those words were branded into her skin; as if everyone could see them whenever they looked at her.
It had taken a year of hard work for her to remove those words from herself and now, she was making sure that no matter who said them, they would never permanently mark her again.
“Tap May!” she commanded.
With one last grunt of effort, she let loose a strangled moan before she felt two short taps on her leg.
She immediately released her hold on her, rolling away from her before she stood up, looking down at her with disbelief as she lay sprawled on the ground, clutching her arm in pain.
The room was eerily still; everyone stunned into silence.
But no one was more shocked by what happened than Skye herself.
“Did she just tap out the Cavalry?” she heard Fitz say, speaking out loud the words she had been silently asking herself.
“I think she did.” she heard Jemma gasp.
It was only then that she finally believed what she had just done; sure it may have been on a technicality and May had obviously underestimated her and, ironically, let her emotions cloud her fighting ability.
But still, she had defeated her and that was something to be proud of.
She let loose a short huff of victory and turned around to grab her drink bottle; her mouth was dry due to her rapid breathing and she was desperate for a mouthful of water.
She had only just bent down to grab the bottle when she heard a loud voice behind her shout, “May!”
Whirling around, her drink bottle still clutched in her hand to see May with her hand raised in a fist, aimed directly at her head as she stared at her hatefully.
Skye stared at her in disbelief; had she been about to hit her whilst her back was turned?!
In any type of fighting, it was considered the lowest act to hit an opponent once their back was turned. Dirty, cheating, dishonerable… Such a thing would get you disqualified from most professional fighting matches.
A defence could be made for ‘never turn your back on an enemy’, but they were, supposedly, fighting on the same side. And a sparring match was supposed to purely be a game to see who was the better player; there were no enemies… were there?
Glancing over May’s shoulder, she saw Coulson standing in the doorway to the gym, looking angrier than she had ever seen him, “That's enough!” he yelled.
May glared at her, as if she wanted nothing more than to hit her as hard as she could and, for the first time she actually found herself believing what Coulson had said to her when she woke up in the hospital; whatever May’s reasons were as to why she hated her so much… They were deeply personal.
Though she still couldn’t bring herself to believe she was ‘jealous’ of her, there was definitely more to her harsh treatment of her than she thought.
Eventually she lowered her fist and turned to face him.
“My team, briefing room on the plane, now!” he commanded before he stalked away, his fingers clenched into fists as he walked away.
Fitz and Jemma hurried after him quickly, seeming eager to leave the tense atmosphere of the room.
May huffed in annoyance before she walked out of the room, her nose in the air once again, as if she was better than everyone else. But given what she had just seen, maybe the legendary Calvary wasn’t as good as everyone seemed to think. Her reputation was definitely tarnished now…
Tripp threw her a thumbs up, grinning happily at her as he walked out of the room, she couldn't help but grin back at him; his smile was contagious.
Ward was the last one to leave and he looked over his shoulder as he did. There was something… soft about the way he looked at her.
At first she thought it was pride, that he was proud of her, seeing her achieve something so impressive. But it was more than that; almost as if he was at peace. As if he had seen a wrong that had finally been made right; a feeling she could agree with.
She could understand why she felt that way, but as to why he would feel that way… she couldn’t even begin to understand and she didn’t try as she finally took a long drink from her bottle.
“Well that’s enough excitement for me for the day.” Bobbi declared as she smiled at her before she turned and walked out of the room.
“Meh, I wasn’t impressed.” Idaho told Bobbi as he followed her out of the room.
She ignored him as she made her way over to Hunter.
“Not bad.” he commented, seeming to be doing his best to fight against the smile that was tugging at the corner of his mouth, “But I’m deducting a point for the jiu jitsu finish.” he told her sternly.
“Picky, picky.” she teased as she rolled her eyes; she had beaten the Cavalry in a fair fight, she thought he would put aside his martial arts preferences and take the win as a win.
Apparently not; he tisked at her with mock disapproval before he walked away.
“Where’d you learn to do that anyway?” Mack asked her curiously.
“From my old S.O.” she shrugged as she took a long drink from her water bottle, finally quenching her thirst.
“You remembered that from over a year ago?” he asked in surprise.
“I remember everything Ward told me,” she replied as she swallowed a mouthful of water.
However the moment those words left her mouth she felt something dark settle over her.
“And what he didn’t.” she added quietly, speaking to herself more than him as she snapped the top on her bottle closed.
He sighed deeply, “You gotta talk with the guy Skye.” he implored her.
She ignored him as she grabbed her towel and wiped the sweat from her forehead, clenching her jaw shut to keep from speaking again.
The fact that he was bringing this up, again, was really starting to irritate her.
“This silence you're giving him,” he continued, “it's pushing him to his breaking point.”
It was subte, but she distinctly heard a note of concern in his voice. But it wasn’t concerned for her, he was concerned for Ward.
He pitied Ward! As if he was the victim in all of this! That he was the one who had been treated unfairly!
“He broke me first.” she snapped at him harshly.
Mack stared at her with wide eyes, taken aback by her tone.
To be honest, she was surprised at how much venom had coloured her words when she spoke; she’d never spoken to him like that.
But perhaps that would be enough for him to see that this was a stance she would not be persuaded to move on and he would, hopefully, drop the subject.