Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers 1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**

**This chapter has actually been posted since yesterday and I meant to put an AN up with it to give a bit of background but (and I'm almost too embarrassed to admit this) I've only just worked out how to put them in *shame face* Turns out you just write in bold, who knew?**

**So, I had these ideas about funny/sweet scenes between a kid!Skye and members of the Avengers/Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. team but I felt like they needed context. I somehow ended up with this complete AU in my head that became essential to understanding these moments. This, however, led me to the uncomfortable situation of needing to actually write out this AU background before getting to the fun stuff. **

**This fic will be written more in the style of one-scene snapshots in chronological order within the same AU and won't be particularly plot driven. Does that make any sense?**

**It's taking me longer to write up the backstory because it's more detail-oriented, but I have started writing up the future scenes (which flow much quicker thankfully!). I don't know whether to post them now as future takes or just wait until they fit in with this chronology, I guess we'll see.**

**This is the first time I've written, literally _anything_, so I ask you to be patient while I work out style and voice. I'll freely admit that it might take some time. In the mean time I greatly appreciate constructive criticism. If you could hold off on the flames though that would be greatly appreciated =]**

**Without further ado…**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the majesty that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any of its awesome affiliations. Just saying.**

* * *

June 4, 2004

Hunan Province, China

She looked down at the baby sleeping peacefully amongst the ruin and couldn't fathom that such utter destruction was caused by something so small. Agent Melinda May took a second to regroup, the purpose of this mission seemingly now redundant in the face of the complete annihilation of the entire village, S.H.I.E.L.D. team included. She turned to her partner Phil Coulson who also seemed to be struggling to reconcile the blood and gore with such an innocent visage.

"What should we do with her?" she questioned hesitantly.

Phil deliberated a moment before replying, "We can't risk someone else finding her body and dissecting her. I guess we take her back with us"

As he turned to give instructions to the rest of their team to retrieve the bodies of the dead S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, he noticed a twitch of movement out of the corner of his eye.

"Did you see that? I could have sworn she moved."

Melinda held her breath as he slowly leaned down to pry the tiny baby from the dead agent's arms. As he stood up it seemed as if the world stilled, fate hinging on this moment, threads of destiny falling away and twisting together. Then, as if the cosmos had coalesced into a decision, deciding on a path, her little face scrunched into an expression of confusion, tiny bow lips twisting into a pout, eyelashes quivering with indecision. She opened her eyes, a fathomless brown twinkling with some undiscovered knowledge, and the universe sighed. Melinda May had never believed in fate or destiny, too rooted in pragmatism to subscribe to such wishy-washy nonsense, but to this day she swears that the moment she looked into that little baby's eyes she knew the world would never be the same again.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

**Sorry for the hideously long AN last chapter, I'll try and reign myself in from now on. No promises though.**

**The title of this fic is from the song 'Electric Feel' by MGMT and will hopefully become more understandable a bit later when things develop.**

**Hopefully the chapters will start getting longer as we get further along.**

**Also, quick shout out to all the awesome people who have followed and (omg - favourited!) this story. I am beyond touched.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the majesty that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any of its awesome affiliations. Just saying.**

* * *

June 6, 2004

The Hub, Undisclosed Location

Agent Maria Hill almost couldn't believe her eyes. No really, she was pretty sure she was hallucinating.

There was no possible way that Director Nick Fury was holding a baby. A tiny little baby wrapped in a pink blanket. With cartoon ducks on it.

She looked around the office at the other agents to see if they were as weirded out as she was.

They were.

Coulson was sporting that enigmatic little half-smirk, half-smile he favoured. The one that said he knew something you didn't. Man, she hated that look.

Choosing instead to question a less vexing source of information she leaned in to whisper in Agent May's ear.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

May smirked and stifled a snort. It _was _a rather disturbing sight to behold. Nick Fury, tower of leather and bad-assery cradling a tiny pink baby. That would have been disconcerting enough. He was also, however, letting her little fist curl around his finger whilst he cooed nonsense at her. Baby talk had never been quite this terrifying before.

Maria cleared her throat delicately. When Fury continued on obliviously she decided a more direct approach was necessary.

"Sir, what are we planning on doing with the infant?"

Fury dragged his eyes away from the gurgling bundle of cuteness to glare around the room.

Maria let out a sigh of relief that he hadn't been completely emasculated. Not that she would ever dare to verbalise that thought, lest she end up in the Sandbox indefinitely.

"The child has powers we don't understand. She will need to be medically examined and observed. We don't know if she's a danger to herself or others. We don't know anything about her; her age, her parents, her name. We also don't know what went down in that village in China. She could have killed everyone herself for all we know."

"With what… her cuteness?"

Fury levelled his glare at the agent dumb enough to open his mouth with that wisecrack. As he launched into a tirade about said agent's stupidity and incompetence his voice got progressively louder until he was cut off by distressed whimpering coming from the baby still held in his arms. Fury started to rock and hush the baby to everyone else's bewilderment. This was not getting any less bizarre to watch.

Maria decided that this conversation was clearly over and they might as well get to work checking the infant over to make sure she wasn't going to unexpectedly kick the bucket. No doubt that would make Fury start kicking things himself.

"All right, let's get her down to medical. I expect mission reports on my desk by tomorrow 1600 hours when we'll debrief."

At their dismissal, all the agents started to file out of the room. Maria looked at Fury and shook her head ruefully, every time she thought she'd seen it all with S.H.I.E.L.D. something happened to throw her off. This time it happened to be Fury chuckling deeply while pudgy little fingers tried to yank his eyepatch off.


	3. Chapter 3

February 2005

The Hub, Undisclosed Location

Agent Coulson would never admit to being lost, not even under truth serum. He was familiar enough with the upper levels that he frequented often, but this time he was seemingly in the deepest bowels of the Hub. So deep he was pretty sure the light of day had never shone on these walls before. Which would explain the mould.

"Must have been two rights and then a left…" he muttered under his breath.

His footsteps echoes slightly off of the stone walls, a faint metallic thump with each connection of his foot to the floor. He thought about doubling back but at this point he was pretty sure he already had, so onwards it was. _'Maybe if I touch my left hand to the wall and continue to follow it I will lead myself out,'_ he thought. Isn't that how it worked with mazes?

His thoughts were shrilly interrupted by the distressed cry of an infant. The idea of anyone being down here was concerning, let alone a small child. He listened again, ears straining for another hint of sound, something to either prove he was imagining things or to lead him to the source. On the verge of giving up, shaking his head ruefully at his own folly, he heard it again. Following the corridor to the left from where the noise was emanating from he quickened his steps and braced himself for what he was going to discover. Another strident cry quickened his heart this time, such despondence was painful to hear. As he approached the intersection of corridors he heard raised voices and stopped pressed against the wall to listen.

"Shut that brat up will you! Someone will hear!"

Phil frowned, whoever was around the corner was worried about being discovered, which meant they were either somewhere they were not meant to be or doing something they weren't meant to be doing. He remained backed against the wall to gather more intel.

"She's just a baby, she doesn't understand." A female voice this time. "If you hurt them they cry, that's how they work. They don't come with a mute button."

"It's been six months and she hasn't responded to any of the stimuli. The amount of pain and distress we've put her through, she should have shown signs of any powers by now."

Coulson stifled his gasp. He had a sick feeling in his gut that they were discussing the 084 that he and Melinda had recovered in June.

"If we torture her anymore she won't recover from it and S.H.I.E.L.D will find out what we've been doing to her. Some of the med staff are already becoming suspicious."

"Hydra put the tesseract in her. If S.H.I.E.L.D hadn't of found her in China we would have been able to activate her powers by now. Instead we have to do it in secret. The higher-ups are getting impatient though. Amp up the pain stimuli."

"But sir, any more and it may have a debilitating effect, perhaps permanently injuring her!"

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Hydra was behind the experiments on the baby, and judging by this conversation they had managed to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. What did they mean 'put the tesseract in her'? What kind of experiments were they running? What did they hope to achieve?

One thing was for sure, he had to save the baby from any more pain at the hands of these psychotic doctors. He retreated to the end of the corridor, far enough away that they wouldn't hear him call for back up but close enough to hear them if they moved. He sent a text to Fury, Hill and Melinda to warn them of a breach of security within the agency and to get them to personally come and give him back up without mentioning it to anyone else. Who knew who else within the agency was corrupt, no need to invite more trouble than they were already dealing with.

* * *

Coulson used hand signals and sign language to convey to the three agents before him what he had discovered. What seemed like a dark cloud of doom descended over Fury's face and Coulson silently thanked whatever deity was listening that he wasn't the person responsible for that expression.

Fury took point. It was imperative that they round up all the scientists and any of the double agents involved as they couldn't let any of them inform their Hydra counterparts that their cover had been compromised. So, stealth it was.

The four agents worked together seamlessly to take out all the Hydra agents that were guarding the room. All three of them.

The rest of the room consisted of five scientists and a wailing infant.

Unsurprisingly the scientists didn't put up much resistance to being rounded up like cattle and shoved into holding cells.

Melinda picked up the baby and shushed her, trying to soothe the traumatised infant by cradling her to her chest and rocking back and forth slowly. Her cries quietened somewhat but tears were still running down her chubby cheeks accompanied by heart wrenching whimpers.

Fury led them (seemingly with ease which Coulson couldn't help but be awed by, having been lost down here for nearly an hour earlier) the back way up to his office away from the prying eyes of the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.

When the door shut behind them Fury started to pace back and forth causing his black leather trench coat to swirl menacingly around his legs.

"The child is obviously not safe here until we deal with the Hydra threat. We have to hide her away until we can root them out and crush them."

Maria thought for a minute before dubiously suggesting, "A safe house?"

"No. Too obvious. If Hydra is as infiltrated into S.H.I.E.L.D. as we suspect then this can't be done officially, nothing on the books."

"What if we hide her in plain sight. Put her in an orphanage where her lack of background won't be suspicious," Coulson suggested.

"What if she does develop powers?" Melinda questioned. "We should put in place an invisible protocol so she gets moved every few months, never stays with a family long enough for them to notice anything different about her." As much as it pained her to deprive the girl of a family and stable childhood, her safety was paramount. She was better alive and sad than dead.

Fury looked down at the little innocent eyes blinking up at him trustingly and acceded that anyone who looked at her would want to keep her, love her, protect her.

Maria looked at the Director and saw he was struggling, not just with the idea of not being able to protect the girl, but also with the new knowledge of betrayal from within his own agency. "Let's get her out of here and safe and then we can deal with the rats in our midst so we can bring her back."


	4. Chapter 4

January, 2010

Los Angeles, California

Agent Grant Ward had just finished planting a tracker on his target and was in the process of inconspicuously leaving the venue when he heard a sniffling sound coming from behind a dumpster. He stilled, hidden behind a door and listened for anything else to discern if it was a threat or not. A second later he heard another sniffle followed by a whimper of distress. He slowly peered out from behind his cover to try and get a visual and saw a small foot peeking out from behind a dumpster. The rest of the alley was deserted so he moved closer to assess the threat. He eventually got to an angle where he could see that no, this wasn't a threat. It was instead a small bedraggled girl curled up into a ball and shivering. Ward felt torn, the girl wasn't part of the mission and if he stayed much longer he could jeopardise his extraction. He looked toward the mouth of the alley to see if anyone was nearby and likely to help the girl, but it was just his luck that this alley was deserted, which is why he'd picked it in the first place.

Ward had just decided to approach the girl and at least give her his jacket when a door closer to the dumpster she was hiding behind opened with a loud clang and a large burly man stumbled out. The girl tensed and curled into a seemingly impossibly smaller ball, shrinking away from the man who was lumbering toward her.

"What are ya doin' out here ya ungrateful whelp? I don't know how you did it but I know it was you and your freakishness!" The man continued to hurl accusations at the girl whose only response was to cover her ears tightly with her fists in an attempt to block out his shouts.

She whimpered in fear. "It wasn't me, I swear. It was an accident, I promise!" She continued to whimper apologies as she rocked back and forth in fear and distress with her hands still clamped over her ears and her eyes squeezed shut.

Ward prevaricated. On one hand, if he exposed himself in defence of the girl he could compromise his mission. However, he couldn't just let this disgusting excuse for a human being continue to fire abuse at the helpless little girl. His hesitation came to a swift end when the sorry excuse of a man gripped the little girl's arm tightly with one hand hauling her to her feet, the other hand raised back ready to deliver a blow to her face.

Ward was quickly straightening from his crouched position to intervene when the girl let out a sharp cry of fear and a blue light flew out of her body and into her attacker, knocking him unconscious. The blue light continued outwards in a nimbus of power and proceeded to knock the power out for a six block radius. After all the lights exploded and fizzled out there was a moment of silence before a cacophony of frenzy and bewilderment rose up.

Apparently it was just his luck that whilst on a routine mission he'd stumbled upon something that was right up S.H.I.E.L.D.'s alley, if you'll excuse the pun. Lucky for her it was him that had witnessed this and not someone else.

The girl was crouched back into a ball hiding even further behind the dumpster, rocking back and forth vigorously whilst muttering to herself that it, "…wasn't my fault, didn't mean it, wasn't my fault." Ward crept closer and crouched down in front of her trying to appear as nonthreatening as possible. He wasn't sure how best to handle the situation to a) avoid distressing her further, and b) avoid being fried himself.

"Hi, my name's Grant. What's your name?"

The little girl stopped muttering and cautiously looked up at him. She stared at him with big brown eyes filled with panic and confusion and Ward felt his heart clench in the face of such distress. It felt as if her eyes were piercing his very soul, assessing his thoughts and deeds and judging his worthiness. He held his breath waiting for her to come to a decision and let out a sigh of relief when she whispered, "Skye," in a trembling voice.

"That's a pretty name." He sat next to her behind the dumpster and looked down into her probing eyes, "You know, my dad used to hit me when I was little. He used to say that I'd done bad things and punish me even though I didn't do them."

Skye leaned forward a little, intrigued yet unwilling to trust so easily.

"I saw what you did with that blue light. What was that?"

She tensed up again and dropped her gaze shrugging noncommittally.

"Where I work there are people and things that do cool stuff like that too. Would you maybe want to check some of it out? Maybe there's something that can make that blue light too."

She peered up at him from under her lashes, she seemed to be assessing the veracity of his statement. "Can they make it stop?" she finally whispered.

Ward thought about his response. "I don't know," he replied honestly. "They can try, if that's what you want."

Skye took another moment to consider before nodding her head minutely.

He stood up slowly to not frighten her and then held his hand down to coax her out from behind the dumpster. She took his hand and gripped it in her small one tightly before offering him a tiny quavering smile. Ward looked down and told her in a conspiratorial tone, "If you ask them really nicely they might get you some cookies. Do you like cookies?"

Skye's smile turned more genuine as she nodded decisively.

"Well okay then, let's go see if we can round up some cookies. I'll take you to where I work and I'll introduce you to my boss Mr. Fury and we'll see what we can do. How does that sound?"

He was rewarded with another smile and nod.


End file.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers, Family, Humor