Mr. Big Ego

Tony just signed a contract with SHIELD to be their consultant for less than a year, maybe 10 months-ish. He mainly works from his house, but from time to time he is needed to go to SHIELD HQ. At first, he dreaded coming there, but then he realized that it’s pretty exciting to come there, looking at their technology and mechanical or engineering stuff, but if anyone asked him about it, he would absolutely deny that.

His security clearance as a consultant can only tell him a few things about SHIELD’s mission or project. Tony Stark is a man full of curiosity; he can’t stand not knowing anything that piques his interest, so of course he tries to hack SHIELD sometimes. But he only managed to do it four times in the whole 10 months he worked there. SHIELD’s security system is ridiculously good, and he wants to hire whoever does it.

This time there is one particular project that piques his interest, a project called ‘Project Quake’. There isn’t anything except the project name, which is weird because SHIELD is usually annoyingly detailed about their mission, project, etc. At the very least, it was restricted by the level of clearance. If that is the case, then he can definitely do something about it, but it’s like the file is there but not there. He has worked to figure this file out for three months. It usually doesn’t take him this long just to figure out a file, and now he doesn’t even get any more description other than the project name, so imagine how frustrated he must be.

One day in Tony's tenth month on SHIELD, Jarvis, Tony's AI, informs him that he has gotten a clue about Project Quake. “Sir, there’s an update about Project Quake. I’ve managed to find something. It’s not much-”

“Just show it to me, J.” Tony, who was designing his new Iron Suit in his workshop, immediately ran to the nearest computer and opened the file that Jarvis had just sent. 

He impatiently waited for the file to load, and when it finished loading, he was flabbergasted. “Is this all, J?”

“Yes, Sir. I already told you it’s not much.” The AI replied.

Tony sighs. “Well, at least it's progress.” He looked at the information again—Floor 47 Q, Room 18—it was written on the file. “Jarvis, how many floors does the SHIELD HQ in New York have?”

“It is made up of 55 floors, sir.”

“Okay, and what about the Triskelion?”

“It is 42 floors, sir.”

“Then it must be at the HQ in New York.” Tony ponders for a moment, “My mandatory report is in a week, right?" 

"I believe so, sir."

"Great. Then I'll search for that floor in a week. J, please gather all the information you can get on that floor. What access I should have to get there, and how heavy the security is."

"On it, sir."

A week has passed, and Tony has already prepared what he needs to have to get into floor 47 Q, as well as his monthly report, of course. He already planned how to get to the floor and that specific room. 

When he gets there, the first thing he does is give his report to Fury. The director is still as stiff as ever. Tony throws some jokes at him, but the guy's face is still stoic. Giving Fury an unimpressed look, Tony bid his goodbyes to him. “You’re so boring, Fury. You might not get a wife if you keep acting like this.” The director only glanced at him, not wanting to deal with Tony.

“Alright, alright, I’ll go. Bye, see you next month.”

Tony went to the elevator and quickly pushed the 47 button. He asked Jarvis to make a distraction big enough to make the guards on floor 47 not stand in his way to room 18. The elevator stops and shows a number 47. Tony gets out of the elevator and sees that it was really quiet there. He quickly searches for the room, and he opens the room with his gadget that can open any doors, at least any type of doors that he has already seen, and he doubts SHIELD has any technology on doors that he hasn't seen.

When the door opened, he hurried himself to get in because he could hear footsteps coming his way. He closes the door behind him and puts his ear to the door, trying to hear if anyone noticed he had walked into the room. But fortunately, the footsteps just passed the door. Tony lets out a sigh-of-relief.

“Who are you?” A voice startled Tony. He turns around and sees a girl sitting in the middle of a prison-like room. There's some kind of gauntlet or handcuffs around her arms.

Tony eyed the room; it was more of a cage than a room. He looks at the girl’s arm curiously before her voice makes him look at her face. “I never saw you before, so who are you?” The girl demanded.

He looks at her up and down, and he gets even more curious now. Tony approaches the girl and looks at her closely. “My name is Tony Stark. And who might you be? You look like you've been locked up in this room for some time.” 

The girl gave him a skeptical glance. “I’m Skye.” Then Tony walks up to her.

“Nice to meet you, Skye.” Tony stretched out his hand, and the girl slowly held Tony's hand and shook it.

When Tony looks at her hands, his attention is on her handcuffs. “And what are those handcuffs? What are you locked up for?” After taking a better look at the handcuffs, he realizes that they are some kind of power restricting handcuffs, something you would see in SHIELD.

Skye keeps silent and only stares at Tony. “I’ll do one better, why are you here? It’s a restricted area. Only Director Eye Patch and Coulson come here.” She crossed her arms, challenging Tony.

“Hmm, you seem like a tough girl.” Tony smirked at Skye. “Restricted area, huh? I do have my ways around.” He shrugs and looks at the handcuffs. “Those don't look like normal handcuffs... Are you a criminal or something?”

The girl frowned, feeling insulted. “No, I’m not.”

“But looking at this prison-like room and those power restricting handcuffs, you really seem like a criminal in my eyes.” The billionaire plays with Skye’s ego, wanting her to spill her secret.

“I don’t have to talk to you.”

Tony sighs and takes out his phone. “Fine, you don’t need to talk to me. But I will get what I want.” He then points his phone camera at Skye, taking a picture of her face. “J, search for anything about this girl.” Tony said to his AI.

Skye looks confused for a moment, then scoffs. “Sorry to tell you this, but you won’t get anything by searching my face.”

“And why is that?” He asked, confused.

“Because I deleted myself, duh.” The girl rolled her eyes.

“Nah, Jarvis is great at searching; I’m sure he can find out about you.” Then Jarvis' voice came into his ear. “Sorry, sir. There’s nothing about this girl.” Tony frowned at what Jarvis just said.

Skye took notice of Tony’s facial changes and smirk. “See, I told you.” She mocks Tony.

He scowls. “You think so, huh?” He stands up straight. “You think just because you deleted yourself, I won't find out who you are and what you did?” He walks closer to her. “I am Tony Stark, and I have billions of dollars. I am the world's smartest man, and even Jarv... I mean, my AI can't find you. Who... Who the hell are you?”

Skye smirks. “Aww, is the great Tony Stark’s ego hurt because he can’t find information on me?” And Tony only glared at her, before Skye continued to talk. “Maybe, if you want to know someone, you shouldn’t be so rude. How about that, Mr. Big Ego?”

He narrows his eyes and momentarily raises his hand, wanting to do something, but thinks better, gives a chuckle as if he's just joking, and lowers his hand, noticing Skye's change of attitude. "Rude? Me?" Tony puts his hands on his hips and looks her up and down with disdain. "How am I the rude one?"

Skye's heart almost dropped when she saw Tony raise his hand. She knew too well what would happen next. So she embraced herself for it, but nothing happened, and Tony put his hand on his hip, and Skye sighed. "Well, you did come to my room without an invitation. I know Tony Stark is a playboy, but just coming into a girl's room like this? Wow, this is truly shocking for me, Mr. Stark." Skye puts her hand on her chest, pretending to be shocked.

Tony rolls his eyes. "I am the CEO of Stark Industries. You think I would care about invitations?" He walks up to her with arrogance and crosses his arms to look at the handcuffs again. "You still haven't told me what you did to deserve those handcuffs. What did you do?"

"Hmm, what if we made a deal? I tell you anything you want to know, and you keep me company by talking about anything and bringing me something?" Skye said, her face is neutral, but her voice sounds full of hope. It seems like she is lonely being all alone in this room.

"Hmm, that's a very unusual request." He thinks for a moment before agreeing. "Alright, I agree to the deal. What did you do to end up here?"

Skye shook her head. "Nah, bring me a laptop first, and maybe a bag of Cheetos? I'm really craving those; they don't give me that here." The girl slightly pouted.

He sighs. "You're very demanding for someone who's locked up like a criminal." He weighed his options first. "Alright, I'll bring you the laptop and a bag of Cheetos on one condition. You tell me what you did to end up here."

"Yeah, sure. But bring me those things first."

Tony looks at his watch and sees that it's already time for his meeting. "I need to go for a meeting. I'll be back in a few days, maybe weeks. I'll get you those things when I'm back, but you better keep your end of the deal." He said this as he left the room. 

"Goodbye!" She waved to Tony.

After a whole month, he comes back with a laptop and a small bag of Cheetos and gives them to Skye. 

"Sorry I just got here now; it's been a hectic month."

"It's okay; I get it. But hey, you're here now, with a laptop and cheetos." She brushes off Tony's apology. Then Skye takes the bag of Cheetos and the laptop, quickly opens the Cheetos, and eats them. "It's still so good! Damn, how I missed this flavor." 

"Yeah, yeah, you like Cheetos, I get it."

Then Skye turns on the laptop and looks at Tony. "Thanks for all of this!" She genuinely smiled at Tony, which surprised him because Skye looks more her age now that she smiles, not having her stoic expression anymore.

The billionaire raises an eyebrow at the smile she gives him. She looks more friendly when she smiles. Then he chuckles and gives her a little smile. "I have billions of dollars, a little bag of Cheetos and a laptop ain't nothin' for me." He says it with confidence. 

The girl smirks at Tony's cockiness. "Is now the time for me to spill my sins on you?"

"Actually, I'm just dropping this off. I'm gonna ask you about that next time. Bye kiddo." 

Skye didn't say anything and just waved at him. Tony could swear she looked a bit disappointed when he said he needed to go, but well, he must be dreaming.

Tony comes back again after two months. He opened the door impatiently. "How can you do that?!" Tony demanded Skye.

Skye just chuckled at seeing Tony like this. "A hello might be nice."

"Hello, Skye. How the fuck did you manage to get into my system and mess up with my Iron Suit?" He angrily asks. 

He's not really in anger, just in frustration, because he can't believe his system is hacked by someone he just gave a laptop to. It feels like he was signing his own death certificate.

Skye acts like she doesn't understand what he means. "Your system? Your Iron Suit? I'm sorry, I'm really not following here."

Tony lets out a huff. "I know it's you. You're the only one who calls me, Mr. Big Ego. And all of my Iron Suit is singing 'Tony Stark is the Mr. Big Ego' for an hour straight, without stopping."

The girl only grinned. "Well, did I forget to tell you that I'm the one that helped SHIELD build their security system?" 

"The fuck? You.. you're the one that made it?"

"It's not like I made it from scratch; I just help a little, point out their weak system, and tell them how to make it stronger."

"You're the reason why it's so fucking hard to get into SHIELD's system." Tony said as he realized it.

"I did a great job, right?"

"A great job? You did a ridiculously amazing job, Skye. It was literally one of the hardest firewalls I've ever tried to break!"

"You should see my own system, though, it's way better than SHIELD's."

"Man, forget about SHIELD and just work for me, Skye."

Skye gives a genuine laugh. "I'd love to, Tony, but I can't."

"Why? I can talk to Fury and negotiate something with him. I am a very persuasive person." He proudly said it.

"You may not want to after you know why I'm here." 

"Then tell me. I'm sure it's not that bad."

Skye shook her head. "It's bad, Tony. I'm tired, you should go and come back again next time." She said this while hiding her whole body under her blanket.

Tony tries to call her name a few times, but Skye doesn't budge, so he leaves the girl alone, and is determined to come back again in a few weeks.

After Tony comes back from Skye's room, she never does a prank again. That silence from Skye is going on for a week, until he gets pranked again. It was just a silly little prank, one of his suits scared him when he was going down to his workshop in the middle of the night. He instantly knew that it was Skye. He is relieved that Skye is back again. "You should go to sleep, Skye, it's 1 am." Tony said to his Iron Suit who just scared him. After a second, the Iron Suit gave him a small nod and went back to its place.

The prank continues every few days, and Tony realizes that now he has a soft spot for the girl. He wanted to help the girl get out of her prison-like life and just make it better for her. He is sure someone like Skye won't do anything horrible, at least not one that deserves her life in a place like that. So he is determined to persuade Skye to get out of there at their next meeting.

Tony comes back to Skye's room again in a month. He now come and go into Skye's room easily without anyone noticing. The billionaire brings many different cheetos and other snacks for the girl, knowing that she really likes her cheetos.

"Hey, kiddo. I bring snacks and your favorite, Cheetos."

Skye's face brightened when she saw Tony and Cheetos. "You don't have to, Tony!"

"I know; I wanted to."

Skye opens a bag of Cheetos and savors the taste on her tongue. With a satisfied smile, she said. "Thanks, Tony. You really are a lifesaver." 

"It's nothing." He brushed it off lightly.

After finishing eating her cheetos, Skye washed her hands and looked at Tony. "It's time for me to explain all this mess, yeah?" 

"You don't have to if you're not ready." Tony sits in front of her and smiles slightly at her.

"But I have to. You already keep your end of the deal, and I'm a woman of my word, so yeah.." Skye smiles bitterly. To be honest, she doesn't want to tell Tony this story because she feels like she found a friend in him, and she doesn't want to lose the only thing that's close to a friend for her. She is sure Tony will never want to see her again after this.

Skye takes a deep breath before explaining this whole mess she got herself into. "It was kind of a mix of everything - I accidentally made an earthquake and killed a few people at the CD store I was in, then SHIELD took me, and they deemed that I'm a danger to everyone, which I also agree, I am indeed a monster." She said it with so much hatred toward herself. 

Before Tony could say anything, Skye held her hand up. "For the record, I didn't realize I had this power, and at that CD store I met my former foster dad, who used to abuse me physically, mentally, and sexually. So, my emotions become unstable, and then everything starts to shake, and the building falls down on top of us." Her voice trembled slightly, but she tried to keep her tears at bay.

"And you're right about what you said on the first day we met, these cuffs are power restriction cuffs. Apart from causing a massive disaster, my power also had a bad side effect for me; it made my bones crack when I used it. It's some kind of punishment or karma for me, maybe I deserve it." She gives a sour smile and shrugs.

Skye looks at her arms. "These gauntlets are for keeping my bones from breaking, because even though I didn't use my powers, they still seem to break my bones. Soo, it's for my protection and other people's protection." She then looks up to see Tony's reaction.

Tony listens carefully to what she has to say. He realizes there's more to her than he thought. He realizes that she is not a criminal but just a girl who is being punished for the mistakes she made. But then he looks so angry. 

Skye thinks that Tony is mad at him. "I know you must be mad at me and don't want to see me again. I understand, you can go, Tony. If you want to let out your emotions, I would prefer it if you just scream at me and not beat me." She wanted to sound strong, but her voice was caught up in her throat, and she sounded like she was almost in tears, begging Tony.

The man frowned at her. "What? Why would I do that? And no, I'm not mad at you, Skye. I'm mad for you, at your foster dad. Give me his name, your foster father." Tony demanded.

Skye tilted her head, not understanding Tony's action. "Why?"

"I'm gonna make sure he lives a suffering life."

"Why?"

"Because he hurt you, Skye. I don't like someone I care about getting hurt."

She looks at him with wide eyes. "You care about me? After all those things I've done? We barely know each other." The young girl doesn't believe what she hears.

"Yeah, Skye, I care about you. It's hard to believe, I know, I also surprised myself when I realized I care about you." He chuckles to himself. "After that story, I'm more convinced that you're a good person. It wasn't your fault, it was a mistake, and that mistake doesn't deserve for you to be locked in here."

Skye bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from crying. "No, I deserve this. I killed many innocent people that day." She then looks everywhere but Tony’s eyes.

Tony tries to call her so she will look at him, but she insists on not seeing him and keeps her silence.

Tony tries again to break the impending silence between them. "So, that's what happened to you?"

Skye laughs bitterly. "Yeah.. I'm a freak. I guess now I can apply to the circus."

He smiles slightly at the girl's sense of humor. "You know... You're actually way more interesting than I thought." Tony thought for a moment. "People usually go crazy over power, and here you are, choosing not to have your power."

"Yeah, sure." She mutters.

After another silence, Tony offers Skye something. "What if I persuade Fury to let you go?"

The girl chuckled. "That would be impossible."

He smiles, seeing how she acts. "Trust me, I always find a way, I am Tony Stark." Tony asks again. "You're not really interested in seeing the outside world? You'd rather stay in a cell?"

"Nope." Skye easily answered—way too easily, and that makes it unbelievable.

"So you just plan on living here like a prisoner for the rest of your life?”

"Yup. I have food, a laptop, and a bath. What else do I need?" The girl shrugs.

"A social interaction?"

"Well, I got Gregg, Tyson, and Tyler. They are the guards that bring food here every day. They are all really nice, talk to me for a few seconds, saying 'here's your food', 'eat it', and things along that line." The girl sarcastically answered. 

"Sure, smartass. I mean, like real social interactions."

"Well, I have you? You said you care about me, and you've come here a few times. So I'd call that a social interaction." Seeing Tony's frustrated face, she laughs. "Really though, I'm good here, Tony. Just let it go." 

Tony let it slide this time, noticing that Skye was not comfortable talking about it. "Okay, I'll let it slide this time."

"Shouldn't you go, Tony? I'm sure it's already way longer than any of your visits before? Stark Industries might fall if you don't go now." Skye smirks at him.

Tony looks at his watch, and it's true to what Daisy said—it's the longest he has been here, and he does need to get back to his work. "Sometimes I wonder if you're a psychic." Tony mutters loudly.

"Bye bye, Tony. See you again?"

Tony smiles. "See you again, Skye."

Tony comes to Skye's room again once a month. He always brings anything she asks for, and she mainly always asks for Cheetos. He can't understand how someone can eat that many Cheetos. 

The man always tries to convince Skye to at least fight to get out of here, he assured her he would help her get out, but she always declined Tony's offers. 

It's his fourth visit to Skye after their conversation about why Skye is being locked up by SHIELD. As always, he tries to convince Skye to get out of here.

"Are you really not interested in seeing the outside world again?"

"It's not that I'm not interested in seeing the outside world. I really want anything more than to be here for any more seconds. But I know what I can do, and it's.. it's bad. I don't want to hurt anyone again. So, I choose to live here instead of having a chance of accidentally hurting someone."

He looks at her for a moment, somewhat impressed. "You're different from other people I've met, you know."

"I have been told that I'm one of a kind." Skye smirks a little.

Tony's smile is visible now because of Skye's smartass-ness. "Well, how about you learn how to control your powers? Surely even SHIELD can't keep you locked up forever?"

At that moment, the door behind Tony opens. "We actually can do that."

Tony turns around and sees Agent Coulson, who looks the same as he has for the past year he has known him. "Agent, she is a child who can't control her powers. Rather than locking her up like this, it's better if you give her training to control her emotions as well as her powers." He chastised the agent.

A smile formed on the agent's face. He has definitely seen many times when Anthony Stark gets mad, but this one is different. He was mad for a girl he had just met a few months ago. "We've tried to do that, Mr. Stark. But Skye here chooses not to do it."

Tony frowned, then turned to Skye. "You are?"

"Yeah.." The girl smiled tightly. "As I told you before, I don't want to hurt people, and I'm not taking any chances that I might be hurting people."

Skye is looking at Tony, then at Coulson. The agent seemed to want to talk with Tony. So she asked them to leave. "You guys can go now. Coulson seems like he wanted to yell at you, and I don't want to hear that." She then crawled to her bed and slept.

Coulson gave his trademark smile to Tony and opened the door. "Shall we, Mr. Stark?"

The billionaire glanced at Skye before exiting the room with Coulson. Coulson leads Tony to his office, near the director's office. 

"Please, sit." Then Coulson went to prepare a drink for himself. "You want anything?" He offers Tony.

"No."

"Okay." 

Then Coulson takes his coffee and puts it on the table before he sits across from Tony.

"What do you want to talk about?" Tony asks impatiently.

"Well, I noticed that you've been coming to Skye's room for a few times now—8 times if I'm not mistaken?"

"Yeah, so what? I like hanging out with Skye. I don't see a problem in that."

"It's not a problem if you don't sneak in and do it secretly."

"Or what? You'll lock me up like you lock her?" Anger seeped from his voice.

"Calm down, Mr. Stark. I agree with you. Skye doesn't deserve to be locked up like that. But, it was what she wanted, and that's why I asked you to come here." Tony raises his brow at the agent, and Coulson continues. "I've been observing your interaction with Skye since day one. Skye seems to be a lot happier and more lively since the first time I saw her. I even know you brought her a laptop and other snacks. Even though she never says anything about you or the things you brought her, the changes in her mood are very apparent; she smiles a lot more now. It would be weirder if I didn't notice it."

"Your point is?"

"I want you to try to persuade her so she wants to get out of her room and try to control her powers. I don't know if she ever told you this, but not using her power still has a bad effect on her. It still breaks her bones—not as much as when she uses her power, but nevertheless, it's the same. We suspect it was because she directed her power inward, toward herself. But we need her to use her powers again if we want to know for sure, and she is so hellbent about not using her power even if it hurts herself."

"Why me?"

"If you haven't noticed, she is really great at hacking and all things computer related. Ever since you came, she has always asked me about you. You're basically her idol." Coulson chuckled.

Tony's frown deepens. "I am?"

"Yeah." The agent nodded. "So what do you think, Mr. Stark. Do you agree? I'll give you full access to her floor and room, so you can get in and out easily."

"If she already has full control of her power and she wants out of SHIELD, would you let her?"

"I can't promise you anything, because it's not my decision. But I can promise you that I will try to persuade the director when the time comes." 

"Okay, and who else knows about Skye?"

"Just you, me, Director Fury, and Deputy Director Hill."

"Well, okay, I accept the deal. Besides, I’ve been trying to convince her about that for some time now. But don't regret it later.”

Coulson grimaced a little. “I already know I’m going to regret it the moment I ask you.” 

“Since Skye doesn't want to accept any more guests, I’ll be back next week.” The Iron Man said while getting out of Coulson’s office.

“Have a good day, Mr. Stark.”

“I have some more offerings for you.” Tony smirked as he let himself into Skye’s room.

Skye looks up to Tony who brings more snacks and drinks for her. "You're back so fast? The fastest you come again usually was a month. Is there something that happened?" She raises her brow. "And I thought for sure that Coulson would forbid you to come again."

"No, no. Since Coulson already knows I came here, he gave me clearance for this floor and room, so I don't need to sneak in again under reasons for submitting monthly reports." 

"Ah, I see. So Coulson didn't yell at you then?"

"Yup, he actually told me to come here often."

Skye frowns. "Really?" The man only answered with a nod.

"So, can we continue our talk a week before?"

"There's nothing to talk about, Tony."

"Yes, there is. I have a crazy, but great idea. Would you like to hear it?"

"Even if I say I don't, you will still tell me about it, no?" The girl rolled her eyes.

"You know me already, Skye." Tony smirks lightly. "So, what if... you had a place where you could control your powers perfectly? A place where you would do absolutely no damage at all? Wouldn't that be wonderful?”

“That would be great, I guess.”

“Well then, consider this deal. If I could build you a place where you could control your powers perfectly and do no damage to anyone.” He smirks again. “Would you come out of your room and start to train your power?”

Skye shook her head. “I can't possibly accept that. It was too much effort just for me when I can stay here all my life without worrying about hurting people.”

“I thought you'd say that, and I expected you to deny it.” Tony smiles calmly. “But what if I told you it would not be an effort? It would be easy for me to build this place.”

“I have billions of dollars; I'm the CEO of Stark Industries. I literally have everything and anyone I need at my disposal. I could build you a huge facility where you could train without hurting anyone at all. All you need to do is say yes.”

“It's too much, Tony. You don't have to do that. I'm not worth it.”Skye insisted.

“And that's where you're wrong. You are worth it. I know I can build this place, and the truth is…” The man pauses and smiles. “I want to do this, Skye. I will build you this place.” He looked her in the eye. “So, will you say yes? You won't regret it, I promise.”

Skye sighs and frowns, confused as to why Tony is insisting to build her a safe place to train, when they barely knew each other. "What's in it for you? What's your angle?”

“That's the thing, there is nothing in it for me.” He gives her a genuine smile. “Look, I can't explain it, but there is something about you, something different from everyone else... I mean, you're the only person I've ever met who doesn't want power and actually wants to stop using it so that you won't hurt others.” Tony continues after a moment.  “It's just a feeling I have, but... I truly want to help you; you’re an amazing kid that has many talents that would go to waste if you don't get out of here.”

"I'm not some pitiful animal that you can take in when it hurts, you know."

Tony sighs. “Skye…” Then he looks at her with compassion and says, “I know you are not, you are special, more than you think. Think about it, I am going through all this trouble for you. You must realize that's got to mean something. I really want to help you, whether you like it or not. I have the means to create this place, and it won't be a big deal for me. Please say yes...”

Skye crosses her arms, her face facing away from Tony. "Does SHIELD even allow this?”

“I’ll handle that. It’s easy.” Tony brushes off Skye’s worry.

The girl scoffs and thinks for a moment before she realizes something. "Coulson told you to persuade me, right?”

He laughs. “Yes, that's true. But I do this not just because Coulson asked me. It’s because I want to do this, Skye.” Tony then gives her a sly smile. “So, what's it gonna be? Will you accept my help?”

"Really? Mr. Big Ego wants to help me?" Skye hopes that it’s true, but she can’t let herself fall into a useless hope like this.

“That's right... Mr. Big Ego wants to help you.” Tony’s smug smile turns into a huge, genuine smile for a moment, he is being completely honest here. He still looks very charming, however. “So, will you say yes or not?”

Skye frowned and tilted her head. "Why are you so persistent?"

“Because, as much as I hate to admit this, I care about you, Skye.” Tony observes Skye’s expression of disbelief. “Wouldn't you like to be free? Wouldn't you like to control your powers instead of living in this prison? Just imagine, you could have real freedom to do anything you want without hurting anyone. Wouldn't that be just... perfect?”

"Yeah, but that feels too good to be true.” Sky still tries to deny Tony’s offers.

The man looks at her, clearly thinking of ways to get this done. Then he smirked. “Okay, if you don’t trust me enough, then what about this? You work for SI or some times, and I will build you this place where you will be free to train your powers, and... we'll see where this goes from here. Do we have a deal?”

"But I'm still under SHIELD's custody, how can I work for your company while I am under SHIELD's custody?"

A laugh rang out from Tony’s mouth. “Oh, don't you worry about that. I have my methods.” He thinks for a moment, then smirks. “Beside, Coulson and I will figure something out.”

"Okay, I agree." Skye answers quietly, but she is very happy inside. She can finally be free again and learn how to control her powers.

“Yes!” He stands and extends a hand. “Shake on it. You and I, a brand new start. Welcome to Stark Industries, Skye.”

Skye laughs. "Thanks, Tony."

Tony gives a chuckle and smiles. “Don't mention it. Anyway, I need to understand exactly what your power is and how it works.”

Skye nodded and began to explain everything she knew about her power. It takes them a few hours to get enough information for Tony to start making a sketch of the building for Skye. 

When they’re done talking about Skye’s powers and what Skye would want in her training place, Tony says, “Okay, I guess this is it for today. I’ll be back in a few days for the complete sketchup, and I’ll talk to Coulson and Fury about how we should arrange for you to work for SI. Is there anything you want to say?”

“Nah, goodbye, Tony.”

“Bye, kid.”