InsaneJournal

You’ve got an interesting history.
Who: Nat and Skye
What: Nat stalks a potential asset
When: Recent
Where: Around
Status: Complete
Rating: PG



Skye had only had a couple of those Dreams people talked about, but she’d dreamt enough to more than be aware of the Avengers. And suddenly she’d realized that she’d met a couple at Jemma’s wedding, one being Black Widow. Black Widow was definitely the best Avenger is Skye’s opinion, and no one was going to change that.

She was on her way to work when she stopped at a cafe to get some coffee to take with her. It was the cafe she made a habit of stopping at, so they knew her and what she ordered by now, so she had her coffee in hand and was heading for the door rather quickly.

Natasha was definitely the best Avenger, she would agree wholeheartedly. Everyone else was too flashy, or fought with each other, or disappeared for years on end thank you very much Bruce.

And, as being the best Avenger, she’d gotten it in her head to track this hacker who’d so entertained Pryde and given her enough of a run for her money that Natasha had overheard her grousing about it. And then she’d done some digging of her own.

So she followed Skye, merging in and out of groups of people simultaneously. Only when she waited for Skye in the coffee shop did she lift her head enough and make her hair noticeable. “Skye.”

At first, the voice that spoke her name didn’t register as being familiar. “That’s my name, don’t wear it out?” She questioned as she turned towards the voice. That was when Skye noticed that red hair. And first, she recognized her from Jemma’s wedding. But a split second later, the realization of who she was in the Dreams dawned on her.

“Holy shit,” she said, but managed to stop before she said Natasha’s code name out loud. Skye felt this bubble of fangirling welling up within her. And she got that look in her eyes like she’d just seen her idol in the flesh for the first time. “Uh, hi? Don’t kill me because I love you?”

“I’m pretty sure both Jemma and my partner would kill me if I tried anything,” Natasha said, though she suddenly wondered if Stahma would be willing to share sometime. With someone, not necessarily Skye, but Nat could see the heart eyes and that could be useful. It just wouldn’t be very fair to lead on to nothing.

“But I’m not here for anything like that.” She slipped out of her seat and gestured with her head. “Walk with me? I think it’s time we talked.”

“Gotta love when Jemma saves my life,” Skye quipped, not knowing that that would become very literal saving of her life in her relatively near future. But that was besides the point. And Skye was definitely not even thinking of anything remotely sexual, she was just a very huge fan of Black Widow.

“Uh sure, yeah.” Skye suddenly felt like she was being taken to the principal’s office. She started walking in the direction Natasha indicated. “So….what did I do?” Because clearly she did something to get on Black Widow’s radar. “And if you’re going to read me the riot act, can I just preface this by saying you’re the best Avenger?” She added that last part once they were out of earshot of other people.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Nat said, grinning cheekily. “No, you’re not in trouble. Well, not in any more trouble than you are with my resident hacker.”

Her eyes slid over to Skye’s face. “There’s no Avengers here, not formally. No S.H.I.E.L.D. But I assume you’re already somewhat familiar with the Agency and its mission.”

“That’s good to know,” she responded. Which tended to usually be the case. Good to know flattery worked with Natasha because Skye would probably do a lot of it just to not get on her bad side. She didn’t want to be on Black Widow’s bad side, it was a lethal experience to be there.

“Yeah, I kind of understand the basics. Seems a bit similar to S.H.I.E.L.D. in some respects.” And of course it now made sense how Jemma fit into the Agency and where she had those crazy gun skills. Skye was still leery on whether she wanted to be part of the Agency or not.

“Some respects, but not all.” There was something of a bitter note to Natasha’s words; in both of her dreams S.H.I.E.L.D had a dark underbelly and she’d come out on the wrong side of them in both cases. Though in one it had been to protect people, and the other case because of Hydra. “As far as the US Government knows we’re a black badge division of some letter agency or another. And the reports I send in are boring enough to not rate questions and exciting enough to keep funding flowing.”

Perhaps luckily for Skye, she was still a ways off from dreaming about Hydra rising out of SHIELD and all of the crap that went along with that. Currently, she had a more positive outlook on the agency in her Dreams. They did good, and she wanted to do good. Even if she wasn’t actually an agent yet. “That’s a delicate balance to maintain. These days, it’s probably near impossible to keep the government from asking questions.”

“You’ll find that people who don’t Dream often don’t see what’s happening.” Natasha pointed towards one building. “As far as most people know, that building is just a regular apartment building. But it’s actually a shelter for emergencies that they’ll forget about, or think was some publicity stunt, once it’s over.”

She looked over at the building Natasha pointed at. “Ah, so basically something about this place helps them forget or believe the cover to keep them from prying and finding out this place is actually batshit crazy.” Which made sense. And it only made Skye that much more leery of this place.

“Yeah. I can’t tell you if it’s magic, some advanced science or technology, or something that I’ve never heard of.” Natasha smiled wryly, thinking of all the insanity that she’d experienced. Aliens. Magic. Gods. Worse.

”But it’s one of the things that’s kept people from dissecting my friends. And god help us if my former employers find out about this place.”

“It’s probably best that we don’t know what it is, exactly. It could be exploited and then worse shit could happen.” How worse could things be? Skye definitely didn’t want to even take the chance to find out the answer to that. The things she’d seen happen here already were bad enough.

“Well, your hacker is definitely good at her job, so pretty sure she can keep pretty much everyone out of the Agency’s systems.” Except for her, of course, but Skye was definitely the exception. There were talented and highly skilled hackers out there, and then there were only a handful that were like Skye.

“Except you,” Nat guessed, and she wasn’t even a mind reader. “Kitty was singing your praises while grumbling about you. High compliment I’d have to say.”

“She did win. Eventually. The second time I’m pretty sure she just let me in once she discovered it was me. But I am pretty good with computers.” Sometimes it felt like a computer had been her only friend. Being kicked around the foster care system was hard, especially when most families she lived with didn’t want her in the first place. A childhood like hers would probably make most people bitter and resentful, but it only made Skye kind. Oh she had her bitterness and her edges from the experience, but she chose not to embrace them unless she needed to.

Machines didn’t usually judge you. Unless they were the Vision. And did he really count as a machine? Natasha had always felt like the Jury was out on that question and considered it above her paygrade.

“Pretty good with computers is like me saying I’m a decent shot.”

That comment gave Skye a little pause. Was that a compliment from Black Widow? Skye didn’t quite know how to handle that. “Uh, yeah, I suppose it is. I just don’t want to go around saying I’m a computer genius or something. I’m not really one to sell myself like that.” Skye preferred to let her actions speak for themselves instead of her words. Besides, most people that boasted about their skills didn’t live up to the hype anyways.

Natasha smiled a bit to herself, letting Skye fangirl and be humble. She rested her hands behind her back, walking in silence for a moment before saying. “It’s not selling yourself to admit when you’re good at something. So much of the time we’re told we’re not supposed to be good at something, or that we’re being bitches for admitting to it. Sometimes you have to own it.”

“I know. I’ll talk myself up when I’m applying for a job, but in the general scheme of things? I’d rather not give off the notion that I’m a master hacker. I’d rather not, you know, go to jail.” Skye said with a little chuckle. Though with the things she’d hacked into? She could very well be sitting in prison right now.

“Then own it around people who won’t get you arrested,” Natasha replied, eyes flashing with amusement. There were any number of things that could land her in a black site, and she doubted Skye would disbelieve that. “You’ll be safe with me. Relatively speaking, of course.”

Her eyes trailed around, but she could see no real danger.

That made Skye stop in her tracks. “Wait, what do you mean by that? The ‘safe with you’ part. Are you offering me a job or just letting me know you’re watching me?” Because really, Natasha’s statement could be taken in more than one way. And Skye just wanted to make sure that they were on the same page.

“Which way do you want it to be?” Natasha asked, looking askance at Skye. “Because there are dangers out there that you could get involved in, and I’ll come if I’m able, or send someone who can.”

“I don’t know.” Which was the truth. Skye was still leery of the Agency. Jemma was rather lethal these days, and she didn’t know if that was the Agency or the Dreams. Right now, she was assuming it was more the Agency considering Jemma was a little pop tart in the Dreams. “I’m not exactly built for what you do. And I’d prefer to not have to learn how to use a gun, thanks. Nothing against guns, I just...don’t want to have to learn how to use them.”

“That’s one reason I know how to use them.” It would be better if fewer people did and even more so if Nat never had to exist. But the world was the way it was (all of the worlds) and that couldn’t be changed. Natasha had seen too many times where attempts to make things better went sideways.

“Don’t learn to hold a gun unless you want to. But I can teach you. Either way, just… be careful if you get yourself into the wrong kind of trouble.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. But I have to say, I tend to find trouble wherever I go.” Which if Natasha did her homework, she’d know a little about that.

Nat smiled, coming to a stop at a cross walk, standing comfortably while she waited, her hands in her pockets. “So I’ve discovered. You’ve got an interesting history. And you’re looking for something.”

“You can say that again. Foster kid that wasn’t wanted by anyone.” Jemma had without a doubt been her first love, and part of her was still in love with her, and undoubtedly would always be in love with her.

Skye looked at Natasha, eyeing her for a moment. “Who isn’t looking for something?” A small part of Skye told her she should give up her search for her parents, where she came from. It was clearly a lost cause to find anything, and it would undoubtedly only end in heartbreak. But the larger part of her was bound and determined to keep hitting her head against that brick wall. Sooner or later that wall would break and she’d find something.

Or that was the hope, anyways.

“This is true.” The light changed and Nat guided Skye across the street, speaking as they went. She wasn’t in any hurry to get anywhere, so she walked only quickly enough not to inconvenience any other pedestrians. “But some goals are more worthwhile than others.”

Skye walked along, not really in any hurry either. Her day job was, well, boring. Thus why she tended to drink coffee quite often, it tended to try and help her stay awake to do her job. “That is true. And then there are people who want to look for something, but end up not going after it for whatever reason.”

“You don’t want to be the kind of person who doesn't go after something when you have the chance,” Natasha guessed, continuing to walk and now taking them in a large circle back towards the cafe so she wasn’t actually kidnapping Skye. “You don’t give up.”

“I am definitely known to be stubborn and not giving up on anything. Just ask Jemma, she knows that very well.” Skye was definitely stubborn and bull-headed more often than not. But determination wasn’t always a bad thing.

Natasha grinned, leading Skye around a corner and into sight of the coffee shop. She nodded her head in it’s direction to indicate that Skye wouldn’t be any kind of prisoner. “How would you like a tour of the Agency sometime?”

Well, it was good that she wasn’t going to be taken prisoner in any way as the coffee shop came back into view. Skye looked at Natasha, a little surprised by that kind of offer. “Really? I gotta say, I am rather curious about the Agency. Hacking it just isn’t the same as being there in person.” She joked.

“The only request I make is to leave any thumb drives at home.” She fixed Skye with a look as if to say ‘we’ll know’ but it wasn’t really a threat. At least not a usual kind of threat from the Black Widow.

Okay, even Nat could acknowledge that any kind of threat from Black Widow was a scary one, so she smiled. “But if Simmons vouches for you, that’s good enough for me.”

Yeah, any threat from Black Widow was definitely scary, and Skye was definitely not going to cross her. She held her free hand up in resignation. “I know better than push it. I’m not going to risk my neck.”